After Expanding Medication-Assisted Treatment Coverage and Boosting Community Health Center Funding, Senator Hassan Discusses Further Efforts to Expand Access to Medication-Assisted Treatment at Senate Hearing
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and public health experts yesterday discussed how the U.S. government can continue to improve addiction treatment at a Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care hearing. Senator Hassan highlighted the importance of expanding access to medication-assisted treatment, which cuts the cravings for opioid use and is the gold standard for addiction treatment.
To watch Senator Hassan’s hearing questions, click here.
First, Senator Hassan highlighted her and colleagues’ bipartisan legislation to improve access to addiction treatment by allowing more addiction specialists to prescribe methadone, a form of medication-assisted treatment that requires patients to travel sometimes hours at a time to receive treatment at a certified clinic. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to advance the bill in December.
Senator Hassan then discussed other barriers that prevent doctors from prescribing medication-assisted treatment with Dr. Brendan Saloner, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Senator Hassan raised her bipartisan legislation, which is now law, that increased the number of medical professionals authorized to prescribe buprenorphine, a prescription medication-assisted treatment that people can take at home. She also discussed her bipartisan legislation to permanently expand coverage for medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder under Medicaid, which passed into law last month.
“However, there continue to be administrative barriers that prevent many doctors and nurses from prescribing medication to treat addiction, especially for patients with Medicaid,” said Senator Hassan. “Can you talk about how management tools, such as prior authorization, continue to deter providers from treating addiction?”
Dr. Saloner said that requiring prior authorization from insurance companies in order to prescribe addiction treatment is a significant barrier to starting and sustaining patients on medication-assisted treatment. He also said that it is important for state Medicaid programs to cover increased dosage-levels for patients, so that clinicians can decide how much medication is required for patients’ symptoms to be relieved.
Next, Senator Hassan discussed her recent visit to Goodwin Community Health in Somersworth, where patients can receive both physical and mental health care services, with Dr. Paul Christine, a professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine and a provider at Denver Health. Senator Hassan last month helped secure a 10 percent increase in funding for the community health center program through December 31. “In New Hampshire, all 10 of our community health centers provide addiction care, including medication to treat addiction,” said Senator Hassan. “In 2022, our health centers provided specialized services to nearly 5,000 patients who needed mental health or addiction treatment.”
Dr. Christine called community health centers “an ideal setup for providing holistic care to patients” and expressed support for the work that they do.
Lastly, Senator Hassan asked Dr. Sarah Bagley, a professor at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, about stigmas surrounding receiving addiction treatment. Dr. Bagley highlighted the importance of teaching mental health professionals about handling cases of substance use disorder and providing patients with wrap-around care.
“What began to work in New Hampshire, which was touched very early by the opioid and fentanyl epidemic, for a number of reasons, it has been young people speaking up about it that has begun to destigmatize it the most effectively,” said Senator Hassan. “When a 10-year-old asks her Senator, ‘What are you doing about mental health and addiction, Senator,’ in a meeting, it’s a pretty impressive and humbling thing.”
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