CMS approves waiver to expand WV Medicaid treatment for SUDs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has approved a Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver allowing West Virginia to expand its benefits package for substance use disorders to include the full continuum of SUD treatment, including short-term residential services in an Institution for Mental Disease. The waiver is effective for five years beginning Jan. 1. “West Virginia is number one across the nation in overdose deaths,” said Gov. Jim Justice. “…We need to help our people get the care they need to get their lives back on track and stop these senseless overdose deaths.” AHA has urged Congress to eliminate the Medicaid IMD exclusion to improve access to mental health as well as substance use disorder treatment.