New York State Expands Services to Combat Addiction and Address the Opioid Epidemic

In September, we marked Recovery Month, the annual observance dedicated to increasing awareness of substance use and mental health disorders. We also celebrate people in recovery, and their successes. And thanks to all the great work we are doing in New York State, we are seeing more and more of...

Peers as an Effective Strategy for Engaging Individuals with Addictions in Recovery

As New York expands its Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC), the utilization of peers within hospital emergency rooms, addiction treatment, and recovery support providers, has demonstrated tremendous value, and opportunities to achieve enhanced engagement and retention of individuals in need of...

Integration: Some Progress and a Need for More

Every contact with a medical provider is an opportunity to help someone address their addiction. And so, it is important for everyone who works in a healthcare setting to recognize addiction, understand the neurobiology, know the standard treatments and be familiar with the resources available...

Strengthening the Addiction Workforce and Beyond

Over 20,000 professionals make up the Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Workforce in NYS. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the SUD workforce will grow at a much faster rate than other occupations in the country and in NYS. The Credentialed Alcoholism and...

Substance Misuse in Older Adults

In recognition of the State’s commitment to healthy aging, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) designated New York as the first Age-Friendly State in the nation. The Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) recognizes that a key component of healthy aging is...

The Changing Landscape of Children’s Behavioral Health in New York: Opportunities for Addiction Services

New York State has been engaged in an effort to re-design its Medicaid program to better meet the needs of the people it covers while managing costs more effectively. The goals have been to increase access, develop new services, improve outcomes and reduce use of expensive hospitalizations. As the...

Substance Use Disorder Measures and Preparing for Value-Based Purchasing

In a previous column, I wrote about the measures for value-based purchasing being developed together with the New York State Department of Health and the Center on Addictions, our partner on many projects. Our work to develop clear measures has set the foundation for insurance plans, providers and...

A Performance Driven System of Care at NYS’s OASAS

The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) envisions a performance-driven system of care, one that is adaptable to the changing needs of individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and their families. A learning system that is integrated with healthcare,...

Finding the Right Recovery Path: Welcoming Everyone into Treatment

This nation is in an epidemic. There are no two ways about it. By now you have undoubtedly heard that more people died of overdose in New York State in 2016 than died of motor vehicle accidents, homicide and suicide, combined. In responding to this crisis, we do not have the luxury of closing our...

Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders

For decades, we have talked about substance use and mental health conditions as “co-occurring.” We have incorporated it into our language, for example, saying that a person “needs a co-occurring program.” Sometimes the term takes on a life of its own, prompting providers to view treatment...