AUDIO – WILL MONEY CHANGE ANYTHING? –

Mar. 30, 2022 – Amid the opioid crisis, West Virginia is introducing a new way to encourage addiction treatment providers to do better. That new idea is to pay providers based on how stable and sober their clients are months and even years after initial treatment.

“It’s not just a medical issue, it’s a societal issue … because you want to get these folks back in the workforce, paying taxes, staying clean, taking care of their kids,” said Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone.

Senate Bill 419, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, will change up how addiction treatment centers are paid. Providers that offer the absolute best care and support to clients, will get paid more than others that don’t offer as much, or at least that’s the intent.

Dr. Michelle Lofwall said these aren’t things doctors and nurses have much control over. Lofwall runs an addiction treatment clinic in Kentucky and is a professor and researcher at The University of Kentucky.  “Addiction is a chronic disease. The medications help manage it, they don’t cure it … but the medication to help with an illness doesn’t make them into model citizens,” Lofwall said. “If this is what you’re being told that you have to do to to get payment, I think the provider would have to look really hard and say, ‘Am I going to be able to pay rent, pay my malpractice insurance, pay my staff?’”   If West Virginia wants folks to find jobs and secure housing, Lofwall challenges lawmakers to scrutinize how employers and landlords might discriminate against those with substance use disorder. For instance, someone well on the road to recovery may still have past drug charges that can hurt their chances of success in society.

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