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Addiction Medication Marketplace: Opportunities for Drug Developers New SAMHSA Administrator Says Addiction Field not Secondary to MH Prospects Seem Promising for addictiona's Inclusion in Parity Bills Co‐Dependent No More celebrates 20th Anniversary Mental Health vs. Addiction Expenditures Briefly Noted Resources Coming up     

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Off‐Label Use of Buprenorphine for Pain Worries Officials Growing Number of Programs Add Legitimacy to Sex Addiction Treatment Painkillers, Tranquilizers Account for Rise in Drug Use by Troops Addiction Drug Market ‘Underexploited,’ Should Focus on Cure, Says Report CAARR Responds to From the Field Article on Calif. Licensing Bill Briefly Noted State News Call for Applications Coming up     

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Public Opinion Poll Shows Deep‐Seated Conflict About Addiction as a Disease Internet Addiction Gains Attention as It Intersects with Other Problems Poll Highlights Do You Believe That Addiction Is — or Is Not — a Disease? Factors in Family Member's Drug or Alcohol Addiction GAO Recommends Monitoring Funds Made to Faith‐Based Organizations What Is an FBO? Substance Abuse Counseling Written into Federal Disaster Response Bill Plan for Disaster New CASA Survey Finds Most Parents Don't Know Teens Are Drinking or Using Drugs Briefly Noted Resources Grants and Funding Coming Up     

AAC statement on NAATP lawsuit

As the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) was beginning its annual leadership meeting May 6, American Addiction Centers sued the organization in federal court (see “AAC sues NAATP for defamation,” ADAW, May 13, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32362 ). We wanted to provide further information on the lawsuit (which we linked to in our story last week). Below is a statement provided exclusively to ADAW by AAC May 15.     

‘Hogwash’: Addiction Policy Foundation on opioid bill reports

Last week, as the Senate headed toward a vote on the opioid package, the Addiction Policy Forum was weathering an attack in the form of almost identical stories in Congressional Quarterly and Politico that said Democrats were opposed to a provision in the bill that favors the advocacy organization. According to both reports, which came out Sept. 5, Democrats objected to the language that would give $10 million a year for five years to an advocacy organization, language that would apply only to the Addiction Policy Forum. The unnamed Democrat staffers, according to the stories, pinned their criticism on the fact that the Addiction Policy Forum receives pharmaceutical funding, something the organization itself announced last December (see ADAW, Jan. 8) but created a minor ruckus after protesters from Minnesota accused the group of a conflict of interest in a story published in The New York Times (see ADAW, Feb. 19, 2018).     

NAATP releases 3‐year pilot outcomes report

Last week, the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) released the results of its three‐year Outcomes Pilot Program, in which eight pilot sites tested out a method for a standardized outcomes tracking tool. The project was a success, said NAATP Executive Director Marvin Ventrell on March 12. The project resulted in the Outcomes Measurement Toolkit: The Addiction Treatment Provider Guide to Standardized Outcomes Measurement, which NAATP members can start using now.     

When pricing treatment,know your costs and set your profit margins

Billing, ethics and parity have been hot‐button issues for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment centers for years, but the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) is getting closer to finding solutions. At its annual leadership meeting in Washington last month, members, not to be deterred by a surprise lawsuit on opening day from American Addiction Centers (see ADAW, May 20, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32368 ), gathered to hear from experts on how to properly conduct billing in a dynamic new environment.     

NAATP to court: AAC doesn't have a case

Citing “actions that it had every right to take, statements of opinion it had every right to make, and the actions and the conduct of third parties” for which it had no control or responsibility, the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) filed a motion to dismiss the complaint against it by American Addiction Centers (AAC) filed in May (see ADAW, May 13, May 20).     

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Addiction Treatment Provider Continues Expansion into Mental Health Seabrook Positions for Changes with Renewed Outpatient Emphasis NIH Responds to Nature Article on Duplicative Grants CSAT's Reuter Retires, Leaving a Legacy for OTPs Colo. Officials Worried about Child Welfare and Substance Abuse ADAW Editor Awarded CADCA ‘National Newsmaker’ Briefly Noted State News Correction Coming up     

CCAPP: Number of deaths from untreated addiction may rival those from COVID‐19

In a far‐reaching clarion call for attention to addiction in the midst of the COVID‐19 pandemic, Pete Nielsen, CEO of the California Consortium of Addiction Professionals and Programs (CCAPP), urges policymakers to recognize that the isolation required in shelter‐in‐place will fuel even more deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide. In The Disease of Addiction Thrives on Isolation, released this month, Nielsen warns that these deaths were already “on track to break records in the number of victims in our state this year,” and goes on to say that those “who survive this year will face a second wave of death due to tobacco related diseases and or relapse to drug of choice unless tobacco is routinely treated in substance use disorder.”     

NAATP keeps focus on parity

We need to move beyond the principle of parity into the practice of parity.” These words from Mark Dunn, director of public policy for the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP), in an interview with ADAW last week are a sign of the frustration with how parity — the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), which guarantees that substance use disorders (SUDs) will be treated no differently from medical and surgical claims in the world of reimbursement — has been a real‐world disappointment to patients and providers alike.     

Fiellin: Keep the prescriber training for buprenorphine

It seems that almost everyone wants to deregulate buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD) — with proposed legislation focused on getting rid of the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) waiver altogether (see ADAW, Oct. 11, “Bill to deregulate buprenorphine raises concerns among OTPs,” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32510 ).     

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In the Blossoming Recovery Industry, Who are the Addiction Workers? Program Staff that Faced Tragedy Now Encouraged toward Self–Care Survey: SAMHSA Employees Feel Untrusted, Overly Supervised Letter to the Editor New County–CRC Program Focuses on Co–Occurring Disorders Faces & Voices Tells NIDA it's Time to Study Recovery Briefly Noted State News Coming up     

Sublocade improves abstinence and quality of life outcomes

Treatment with injectable subcutaneous buprenorphine (Sublocade) over a course of a year resulted in better abstinence and quality of life, according to a study by Walter Ling and colleagues published in the current issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine.     

NAATP annual meeting: Measure what you're doing

Last week's annual leadership meeting of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) focused on the quality assurance guidebook coming out from the organization (see “NAATP releases draft guidebook for residential treatment providers,” ADAW, April 22, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32334 ). It culminated with a visit to Capitol Hill (see story, p. 3).     

App for buprenorphine adherence moves forward

A pilot study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine last month paves the way for more clinical investigations of an application developed by Emocha Health. We talked to the CEO, Sebastian Seiguer, and to the primary investigator and lead author of the study, Judith Tsui, M.D., M.P.H., about how the app works.     

Membership doubles,and NAATP plans more on ethics and outcomes for 2019

The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) has culled its membership, removing members who don't comply with its ethics guidelines — mainly for marketing purposes. But rather than reducing its total numbers, this move has doubled membership, from 450 in the fall of 2015 to more than 900, NAATP Executive Director Marvin Ventrell told ADAW last week.     

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Quality Group Urges Greater Utilization of Medications to Treat Addiction Foundations Embraces Model for Integrated MH and Addiction Most Americans Don't Know About Parity Law: APA Survey Legislators Look at Ways to Fund Addiction Treatment in W. Va. Act Now, Don't Wait for Budget Cuts to Come Downstream Briefly Noted In the States Call for Applications Coming up     

Behavioural Addictions in Adolescents and Young Adults: Results from a Prevalence Study

Our study aims to assess the prevalence of behavioural addictions in an adolescent population, evaluating the effects of gender and age, and to assess the correlations among different behavioural addictions. 2853 high school students were assessed in order to evaluate the prevalence of behavioural addictions such as Pathological Gambling (PG), Compulsive Buying (CB), Exercise Addiction (EA), Internet Addiction (IA), and Work Addiction (WA), in a population of Italian adolescents. The South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised Adolescent (SOGS-RA), the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS), the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Work Addiction Risk Test (WART), were compiled anonymously by the students. Overall prevalence was 7.0% for PG, 11.3% for CB, 1.2% for IA, 7.6% for WA, 8.5% for EA. PG and EA were more common among boys, while gender had no effect on the other conditions. CB was more common among younger (<18 years old) students. The scores of all of these scales were significantly correlated. The strong correlation among different addictive behaviours is in line with the hypothesis of a common psychopathological dimension underlying these phenomena. Further studies are needed to assess personality traits and other clinical disorders associated with these problems behaviours.     

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Proposed Rule on Benefits Raises Questions about Parity and Enforcement SAMHSA Releases Bupe‐OTP Final Rule Imprint of Founder Continues to Influence Father Martin's Proposed Rule's Language on Parity What Plans Must Include ONDCP's Botticelli: Prevention, Block Grant, and Recovery DSM‐5 Will Include SUDs Instead of Dependence and Abuse Improving Outcomes: Connecting Payment to Performance ABAM Continues to Moves to Make Addiction a Specialty Briefly Noted State News Coming up