Benefits Of Substance Abuse Treatment

Background Substance abuse has been called an “urgent and growing threat”. This threat to our nation’s public health is a crisis of epidemic proportions. In 2012, an estimated 23.9 million Americans used illicit drugs. Some sources approximate 6.8 million Americans engage in non-medical prescription drug abuse (Abramowitz, 2014). A diverse cross-section of Americans from every region, state, background, and walk of life are touched by this plague. The United States Department of Justice has recently undertaken expanded efforts aimed at reducing risks associated with drug misuse (Holder, 2014). Prescription and illicit drug use are not the only burgeoning threats to public safety. Alcohol abuse and misuse in the population continues to grow. It places a drain on worker productivity and staff morale, while also increasing absenteeism, worker turnover, and incidence of worker’s compensation claims. Provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will integrate substance abuse treatment into mainstream provision of health care benefits. Currently, just 2.3 million Americans receive any type of substance abuse treatment, which is less than one percent of the total population of …show more content…
Substance abuse treatment will be considered an essential service, mandating insurers to provide it. They must treat the full spectrum of the disorder, including people who are in the early stages of substance abuse. There will be more prevention, early intervention, and treatment options; the result will be improved less costly outcomes. At present, approximately 13,000 treatment providers for substance use disorders exist; less than half of those are doctors. Following changes with the ACA, 550,000 primary care doctors and nurse practitioners will be caring for these patients (Vimont,