NAPHS White Paper Outlines Steps to Address Nation's Deadly Opioid Crisis

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis prepares to release its final report on Nov. 1, a new white paper from the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) outlines practical steps for federal officials to address the national public health emergency.

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In late July, the president's commission released an interim report and included a recommendation to "rapidly increase treatment capacity." NAPHS' white paper—Blueprint for Recovery: Increasing Access to Inpatient and Residential Behavioral Health—builds on that recommendation and outlines practical actions that the commission and the Trump administration can take to implement it.

The white paper recommends the following five efficient and effective policy changes that can help provide life-saving care:

• Expedite the approval of 1115 waiver for behavioral health;
• Expand the existing 1115 waiver for substance use disorders to individuals with co-occurring mental illness;
• Complete the 1115 waiver for mental health that the 21^st Century Cures Act outlines;
• Change the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) length of stay in the managed care rule to 25 days from 15;
• Move the IMD length of stay in the managed care rule to a facility-wide average length-of-stay cap from a per-beneficiary cap.

"Our member hospitals and addiction treatment centers have dedicated teams who work tirelessly every day to help people who are battling an opioid addiction," NAPHS President and CEO Mark Covall said in a statement. "We are working to ensure they have all of the tools and resources they need to provide life-saving services, and will continue our fight for Congress to repeal the IMD exclusion that blocks access to care for the people who need it most."

About NAPHS
The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) advocates for behavioral health and represents provider systems that are committed to the delivery of responsive, accountable, and clinically effective prevention, treatment, and care for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental and substance use disorders. Its members are behavioral healthcare provider organizations that own or manage more than 800 specialty psychiatric hospitals, general hospital psychiatric and addiction treatment units and behavioral healthcare divisions, residential treatment facilities, youth services organizations, and extensive outpatient networks. The association was founded in 1933.

SOURCE National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS)

Related Links

http://www.naphs.org