Moderator: Kelly Clark, MD, MBA, DFAPA, DFASAM, Chief Medical Officer, Clean Slate Centers, President, American Society of Addiction Medicine, and Member, National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board

CE Certified By: AMA,AAFP,ANCC,NAADAC,NBCC

The growing opioid epidemic in the United States has exposed a significant shortfall among healthcare professionals with regard to limited confidence and expertise in identifying and treating patients with substance use disorders. Few healthcare professionals have received adequate training in the areas of identification of risky substance use, treatment of substance use disorders or harm reduction techniques. In many states, the addiction treatment system has been kept separate from medical care, with limited coordination or integration of physical health services and addiction treatment services. Many health professionals working in addiction treatment systems have not received adequate training on current evidence-based practices, including but not limited to the evidence base of medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. To address this gap, many communities, including city and state governments, have developed innovative programs and strategies to educate, support and incentivize clinicians to offer addiction treatment services consistent with current medical knowledge.

In this presentation, members of the American Society of Addiction Medicine will discuss a range of strategies currently being implemented on municipal and state levels to improve training of the addiction medicine workforce and increase the number of professionals working in the field of addiction. Challenges in building systems to provide evidence-based care at the population level will be identified and examples of innovative solutions presented. Participants should leave with knowledge of how to identify their local resources (e.g., financial, workforce, stakeholder groups) and work with their local resources to increase and leverage the specialty workforce to help build a more clinically effective and cost-effective approach to the epidemic.

UPON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE, PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
- Explain the gap between the current needs of addiction treatment and the current state of addiction treatment resources.
- Identify the challenges to increasing access to appropriate treatment.
- Describe strategies to maximize available resources.