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doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00112
Medication Treatment For
Substance Abuse
The article by Ramin Mojtabai and
coauthors (Jan 2019) brings attention
to the persistent unmet need for
medication treatment (MT) national-
ly, especially in the specialty treat-
ment sector. But we must ask why only
36.1 percent of substance use treat-
ment facilities in the United States
were offering MT in 2016.
To find answers, I suggest examin-
ing the success of the Certified Com-
munity Behavioral Health Clinic
(CCBHC) initiative in enhancing ac-
cess to MT. Implemented as part of
the Protecting Access to Medicare
Act of 2014, these clinics are one-stop
shops that must provide comprehen-
sive mental health and addiction ser-
vices and are driven by client need
rather than financial limitations. The
clinics are required to provide com-
prehensive outpatient mental health
and addiction treatment, including
MT, along with twenty-four-hour cri-
sis care, care coordination, and link-
ages to emergency departments, local
law enforcement, and other communi-
ty partners. Sixty-six of the clinics
were launched in eight states in 2017
and are advancing access to MT by
expanding universal and sustainable
adoption of MT. Since the launch of
the program, 92 percent of the clinics
have offered at least one type of MT
approved by the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration. Across the sixty-six clin-
ics, at least 9,000 patients are esti-
mated as being treated with MT. The
combination of federal requirements
and adequate funding makes such
treatment access possible.
The current CCBHC demonstration
is limited to eight states over just two
years, and without congressional ac-
tion the program will end in 2019. If
this happens, current patients will
lose access to lifesaving medications
and supports. As the nation considers
what steps should be taken to expand
access to lifesaving treatments, the
CCBHC model must be extended and
expanded.
Linda Rosenberg
National Council for Behavioral Health
WASHINGTON , D . C .
April 2 019 3 8:4 Health Affairs 6 95
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