Providers Are Encouraged to Take on an Advocacy Role

Amid all the daily challenges behavioral health providers face, it can prove difficult to look beyond the everyday and see the bigger picture in the industry. But in a profession where stigma still runs deep and hinders access to high-quality care, treatment professionals’ role as advocates for the field remains critical.

Last spring’s annual conference of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) offered a reminder of the many public policy goals the industry continues to pursue. As a national organization and founder of the only existing political action committee solely committed to the substance use treatment profession, NAATP focuses on major public policy initiatives in Washington, D.C. Providers in any state can of course find relevant issues at the state level for which they can make a meaningful contribution to the policy dialogue.

Mark Dunn, the lobbyist who represents addiction treatment providers’ interests on Capitol Hill and within the federal agencies, outlined the many items on providers’ national policy agenda at the NAATP conference in May. Some efforts, such as the push to increase federally imposed dollar limits restricting providers from using reward-based incentives for patients in substance use treatment, are relatively new priorities. Other goals, such as the ongoing effort calling for stronger enforcement of the federal insurance parity law, have been waged for more than a decade and show why the field must remain laser-focused on its advocacy work.

In his comments, Dunn moved through a substantial wish list of items on the national level. Among the most noteworthy, he cited proposed national legislation that would create a residential treatment benefit under Medicare. Congress is unlikely to take that step this year, but the introduced bill plants the seed for what would be an impactful development for beneficiaries with substance use disorders.

Federal funding of course remains a high priority, Dunn said, and a challenge in an environment where it has become a struggle just to maintain level funding for key programs. NAATP also is monitoring trends in the continued move to integrate substance use and mental health services more closely. This remains an important goal for improving outcomes, but the substance use treatment community wants to ensure that the federal funding support it heavily relies on doesn’t get lost in this effort.

During his remarks at the conference, Dunn emphasized the importance of backing any advocacy position with sound data. He cited the results coming from the NAATP Foundation for Recovery Science and Education’s (FoRSE’s) comprehensive outcome evaluation project, an initiative we at Sigmund Software have proudly supported, as evidence to counteract any mistaken notion among policy-makers that treatment isn’t working. “I can’t tell you how helpful this will be,” Dunn said of the FoRSE data.

Keep this in mind as you pursue advocacy efforts at the national, state or local level. Personal stories matter to policy-makers, but numbers will often carry the day. The more you can connect investment in treatment to tangible results, from increased productivity to savings in other government services, the better your chances of an advocacy win.