CMS Waivers for OUD Alone Didn’t Move the Needle on Overdoses, MAT Utilization

Behavioral Health Business November 12, 2024
Matthew Blake

In 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reversed a longstanding policy that barred the use of federal Medicaid money for patients residing in addiction treatment and mental health facilities with more than sixteen beds.

The policy switch was intended to better help people in facilities with substance use disorder (SUD), particularly those impacted by the growing opioid use disorder (OUD) crisis.

States could apply for waivers to use federal dollars to provide patients covered by Medicaid with a full continuum of OUD care, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

However, these Medicaid waivers only led to a “small and nonsignificant increase” in medication-assisted OUD treatment, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

“More substantial efforts at the...

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