Substance Abuse Care

CareSource Partnership Boosts Access to Substance Use Disorder Treatment

February 21, 2024 - CareSource has partnered with CKF Addiction Treatment to improve member access to substance use disorder treatment in Central Kansas. “Our shared commitment to decreasing substance use disorder in Kansas by breaking down barriers to services and decreasing stigmas around addiction is at the heart of this partnership,” Chad Moore,...

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Anthem Blue Cross Grants CA Orgs $1.2M to Address Mental Health

by Victoria Bailey

Anthem Blue Cross Foundation has awarded $1.2 million in grants to five California-based organizations that focus on addressing mental health and substance use disorders in surrounding...

Employers Grapple with Workforce Mental Health Needs Post-Pandemic

by Kelsey Waddill

Mental health has been a primary focus for employers following the peak of COVID-19. As the pandemic becomes more manageable, large employers are implementing strategies to address access to care, burnout, and quality of mental healthcare,...

CA, KY Expand Behavioral Health Services Through Mobile Crisis Teams

by Victoria Bailey

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved proposals to expand behavioral health services for Medicaid beneficiaries in California and Kentucky through community-based mobile...

Blue Cross MN Commercial Plans Will Cover Peer Support Specialists

by Victoria Bailey

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) is improving member access to mental health resources by adding coverage of peer support specialists to commercial plans next year. “As the...

Out-of-pocket Costs for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Varied by Payer

by Victoria Bailey

Out-of-pocket costs for buprenorphine prescriptions for opioid use disorder treatment decreased between 2015 and 2020, but costs varied by payer, according to a study published in JAMA Network...

ACHP Addresses Proposed Rule on Substance Use Disorder Patient Data

by Kelsey Waddill

The Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) was among around 50 organizations—including AHIP and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association—to sign a letter to HHS that supported fully aligning...

Employer-Sponsored Health Plans Face High Costs for SUD Treatment

by Kelsey Waddill

Employer-sponsored health plans paid $35.3 billion to cover substance use disorder treatments in 2018, a recent study published by JAMA Network Open found. The researchers used Merative MarketScan...

Top 3 Major Trends in National Health Outcomes Measures

by Kelsey Waddill

Overall, major health outcomes measures are trending in a negative direction, according to America’s Health Rankings Annual Report for 2022. The Annual Report examines 23 measures to assess...

OUD Treatment Coverage, Prior Authorizations Common in Medicaid FFS

by Victoria Bailey

Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS) programs were more likely to cover medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) but imposed more prior authorizations for the treatments compared to Medicaid managed care...

OR Introduces Coverage for Mental Health Mobile Crisis Intervention Services

by Kelsey Waddill

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has approved a proposal from Oregon’s Medicaid program, Oregon Health Plan, to cover community-based substance abuse and mental healthcare...

Anthem Grants $150K to Support Substance Use Disorder Services

by Victoria Bailey

The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation (Anthem) has provided a three-year grant to the Chris Atwood Foundation to help increase access to stable housing for individuals with substance use...

Medicare Advantage Member Satisfaction Soars, Mental Health Coverage Lags

by Victoria Bailey

Medicare Advantage member satisfaction increased in 2022, but coverage for mental health and substance use disorder services is lagging, according to the JD Power 2022 US Medicare Advantage Study. The...

Data Shows Lack of Health Equity in Employer Sponsored Health Plans

by Kelsey Waddill

Data on employees continues to exhibit care disparities that signal a lack of health equity in employer-sponsored health plans, according to a report from NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC)...

Removing Prior Authorizations Had Mixed Effect On OUD Care Uptake

by Kelsey Waddill

Beneficiaries may face barriers to substance abuse care when states impose prior authorizations for substance use disorder treatments, but a broad range of policies can influence Medicaid...

Private Insurance Covers Most Nonelderly Adults with Mental Health Needs

by Mark Melchionna

Private insurance supports a large portion of nonelderly adults with mental health conditions and substance use disorders, according to a study by Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). Mental health...

Anthem Foundation Funds Substance Use Disorder Programs

by Mark Melchionna

To increase care for mental health and substance use disorders, the Anthem Foundation is providing a large grant to various organizations focusing on prevention of substance use disorders and...

Complaint Filed Against Alabama Medicaid for Hepatitis C Coverage

by Kelsey Waddill

Editor's Note 05/13/2022: This article has been corrected to indicate that AIDS Alabama and CHLPI filed an administrative complaint against Alabama Medicaid. A previous version said that the...

AHIP Responds to Proposed CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines

by Kelsey Waddill

AHIP has responded to the latest updates to opioid prescribing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC’s proposed updates to the opioid prescribing guidelines...

Adolescents with SUDs in Medicaid Rarely Get Substance Abuse Care

by Victoria Bailey

Adolescents enrolled in Medicaid who had substance abuse-related experiences, including opioid use disorder, had high rates of medical visits but were unlikely to receive substance abuse care,...

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