President and CEO Steven Zuckerman provided testimony at the on February 19, 2019 to discuss additional Medicaid rate support for methadone maintenance treatment.



” We receive the lowest state Medicaid rate for methadone maintenance at $75.80 per client per week. I believe the rate is a consequence of previous historical rates which were established at a time when the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services provided state grant dollars for such service. These grant dollars, as well as federal grant dollars, have all but disappeared. Despite that, all providers, regardless of their weekly rate, must comply with the same federal, state, and accreditation requirements. Since that time, treatment continues to change and evolve, especially as we navigate through what has been an opioid epidemic. New opportunities for treatment have been approved and exhibiting success with the opioid dependent client but are services that we cannot currently offer. These alternative forms of medication assisted treatment (MAT) require more resources to manage and oversee, but our weekly rate is already well below the cost for our Medicaid clients.”

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