Indiana authorities announced Wednesday that the state would begin funding methadone therapy for persons who are eligible for Medicaid and that the state has added five new treatment centres to its network of treatment providers in an effort to assist more people suffering from opioid addiction.
At a news conference held on Wednesday at Valle Vista Health System in Greenwood, one of the new sites, Gov. Eric Holcomb expressed his support for the initiatives, noting that fighting Indiana’s opioid crisis is one of his top priorities as governor.
‘This is going to result in the restoration of lives,’ he added, stressing that the number of drug overdose deaths has climbed by 500 percent in the last 17 years, and that the statistics are continuing to climb. In my lifetime, if I could only accomplish one thing, it would be to change the trajectory of the ship, to change the arc of the arc of the arc that we’re now on.
Indiana does not cover methadone, a pioneering kind of so-called medication-assisted treatment that tries to support people who use drugs in their efforts to break the cycle of drug use. According to Dr. Jennifer Walthall, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, which controls Medicaid, the decision not to do so was most likely based on the assumption that methadone usage is akin to trading one addiction for another, which is incorrect.
Suboxone and Vivitrol are two newer forms of medication-assisted therapy that are covered by Indiana Medicaid: Suboxone and Vivitrol. Because one drug may be more effective for a particular individual than another, Walthall said it made sense to expand coverage to include methadone, the third federally approved drug for the treatment of substance abuse.
‘We’ve made it clear time and time again that we wanted everything in the toolbox,’ she explained.
Amy Rardon, who had been abusing drugs for ten years, began methadone therapy three years ago in order to assist her overcome her addiction. The Irvington resident is covered by private insurance through her husband, but she must first pay a $5,000 deductible before coverage kicks in. She bears a significant portion of the $16-per-day medicine bill out of her own pocket.
Rardon, on the other hand, chose methadone because it was the most affordable option.
Best Methadone Clinics in Indianapolis INIt was on Wednesday that she appeared at a news conference, where she explained how methadone had allowed her to return to a normal life after developing an addiction to legal opioids prescribed for a back injury.
“We simply want to work and be accepted as members of society. Nothing more than getting our therapy and getting back to normal life “” she explained.
While certain facilities exist to treat substance misuse for patients who have private insurance, Medicaid participants in Indiana have only had access to treatment at one of the 13 opioid treatment programmes that have been certified by the federal government up until now.
According to Walthall, each of the programmes will provide outpatient treatment that will mix medication-assisted treatment with counselling in order to assist patients in achieving long-term recovery. The only constraint on the number of people who could receive care is the number of providers who are available to offer it.
“There is no limit to the number of people who can be assisted by opioid treatment programmes,” she explained.
According to Walthall, an estimated 50 to 90 percent of persons suffering from addiction also suffer from mental health difficulties, making it necessary “to encourage therapy that takes into consideration both sorts of diseases,” he said.
A large number of individuals in the state have had to travel significant distances in order to access such services, thus the state sought to fill in some of the gaps. The five new opioid treatment clinics are located in counties with the highest rates of naloxone use, a medicine that can be used to reverse an overdose if administered quickly.
County sites have been added to the state’s already-expanded network of sites. The Veterans Administration is adding a programme, bringing the total number of Veterans Administration programmes in the state up to 19.
Valle Vista is a rehab facility in Johnson County that offers an intense outpatient programme as well as 132 inpatient beds. It plans to start an outpatient detox programme in the near future. In Lafayette, Sycamore Springs Hospital, a 48-bed facility, will operate two opioid treatment programmes under the name Limestone Health in the cities of Lafayette and Bloomington.
The Bowen Center for Human Services in Allen County first offered a medication-assisted treatment programme around 18 months ago, according to the organisation. Since then, it has provided care to approximately 300 people. Hamilton Center, a behavioural health centre in Vigo County, will be in charge of running the new programme.
Walthall believes that there are still pockets of need in the world.
“We’re not finished yet,” she stated emphatically.
According to data from the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, more than 10,000 Medicaid participants received treatment for substance use disorders in 2016.
The Florida State Social Security Administration does not know how much these measures will cost the state. The long-term cost could vary depending on the number of people who seek treatment and what happens with health reform on the federal level in the coming years.
State officials, on the other hand, stated that doing nothing was not an option.
In his remarks, Walthall said, “This is how we tackle an opiate epidemic: by putting people first and embracing the combination of science, data, and compassion as we make policy decisions that benefit Indiana.”
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