Groups Seek Physician Practices to Test MAT Alternative Payment Model

The American Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Medical Association yesterday released an issue brief on an alternative payment model for medication-assisted therapy, and seek physician practices and insurers interested in pilot testing the model for patients with opioid use disorder. “While we know that a combination of medication and psychosocial support systems is the evidence-based standard for treatment, we continue to find that patients are not able to access treatment due to limited or non-existent insurance coverage,” said Shawn Ryan, M.D., chair of the AMA-ASAM working group that developed the framework for the model, called Patient-Centered Opioid Addiction Treatment (P-COAT). “We hope that today’s announcement will begin a national conversation with insurers and policymakers about what it takes for successful treatment and recovery.” AHA also is developing a strategy to treat substance use disorders as part of its work to advance new payment models, which includes working with the Alliance for Recovery-centered Addiction Health Services to design a system of care for SUD screening, treatment and recovery that incentivizes recovery, not relapse, for alcohol and opioid use disorders. AHA members participating in the Alliance, which expects to release more information on its model this summer, include Carroll Hospital Center in Westminster, MD; Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City; Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore; Partners HealthCare in Boston; and UCSF Health in San Francisco.