WHAT WOULD? –

Nov. 4, 2024 – Stephan Lindner, Ph.D., is lead author on a new study from OHSU that found a state Medicaid waiver resulted in no overall benefit in terms of increased treatment or decrease in nonfatal overdoses. Lindner notes that much more needs to be done to bring the nation’s overdose epidemic under control.

For generations, the federal government has largely refrained from paying for mental health and substance use treatment in large residential facilities.

That changed in 2015 when, in response to increasing overdose deaths nationwide from illicit drugs, the federal government allowed states to waive a longstanding prohibition against using federal Medicaid funding for services in so-called institutions of mental diseases. In turn, states were required to improve their addiction care with an emphasis on increasing treatment with medications.

CONTINUE@OHSU