Maryland doctors can get reimbursed for identifying and treating drug abusers through Medicaid, Bush administration officials announced this week.
The move marks a dramatic shift toward treating drug abuse as a medical issue rather than a social failing, Baltimore City doctors said.
“It?s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Dr. Christopher Welsh, a psychiatrist with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
“There?s a lot of good evidence that for people who are early in having problems with drugs or alcohol, a few minutes with a physician can make a lot of difference,” Welsh said. “More serious problems can be referred to a treatment program.”
Screening and early intervention is gaining ground as a way to help individuals win the war on drugs from the inside, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which released the information.
Early intervention also saves health care dollars, the office said.
Other states taking advantage of the change are Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia and
Washington, with
Wisconsin providing these services for pregnant women.
Previously, no insurance company would reimburse doctors for screening or early intervention treatments.
“These states have taken a historic step in transforming substance abuse in the United States,” said Dr. Bertha Madras, deputy director for demand reduction at the Drug Control Policy Office.
“By ?medicalizing? the detection and intervention of substance abuse, the 10 states recognize the need to de-stigmatize substance abuse, and mainstream preventive services into general medical care.”
It?s a good first step, said Dr. Tony Tomasello, formerly with the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and now a field medical adviser for Reckett Benckiser.
“One of the most effective ways to destroy the market for the product is treating the people using drugs in the [United] States,” Tomasello said.
But the government needs to do more to publicize the reimbursement, he added.
The move also comes at a time when medical science better understandswhat drugs do to the brain and how to begin treating it, doctors said.
The decision also could influence a change in society?s attitude toward drug abuse, from a stigmatized social failing to a treatable illness, Welsh said.
“I don?t know if it trickles down to every individual, but I think as we get different ways to study the brain, we learn more and more about the biology ? how the brain changes with addiction ? we can treat it in the same way we treat other diseases,” he said.
