Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-Cicero) announced that he held a round-table recently focused on Central New York’s shortage of addiction treatment counselors. The heroin and opioid epidemic devastating our communities has highlighted the region’s need for trained professionals to treat those suffering from addiction.
“I’ve heard too many times that we don’t have enough counselors here in Central New York to help break the cycle of addiction,” said Stirpe. “The forum raised many important issues that I’ll bring back to my colleagues on the Assembly’s Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee. Addiction counselors are on the front lines of this crisis and we need to get them the resources and assistance they need ASAP.”
Issues raised by panelists include a lack of funding for addiction treatment, inadequate training standards for addiction counselors, difficulty creating new treatment centers and slow and insufficient payment for treatment. Moreover, it was stressed that the reimbursement rate for Medicaid patients is a fraction of the cost of treatment, leading many private addiction counseling centers to only accept Medicaid recipients for outpatient treatment, which is far less effective. Certain insurance companies are also systematically slow in payments, in an effort to increase profits and to reduce claims.
All attendees agreed that the epidemic has impacted far too many families and communities here – everyone knows someone that has been impacted by the effects of addiction. In fact, deaths per capita from heroin and opioids in Central New York outpaced the rest of the country between 2012 and 2014.
Participants included Dr. Jay Brenner, director of the Emergency Department at Upstate University Hospital; Beth Humy, executive director of the Prevention Network; Carol Sheldon, academic coordinator for St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing; Wil Murtagh and Erin Bortel of ACR Health; and Ms. Lisa Forshee of Syracuse Recovery Services.
“This is not an issue we can ignore – it’s not going away and it’s only going to get worse unless we take far-reaching action,” said Stirpe. “That’s why I’ve taken important steps to raise awareness, increase prevention and tackle this head-on.”
This year, Stirpe helped secure increased funding for treatment and helped pass comprehensive legislation to combat heroin addiction in Central New York. The new lawslimit the amount of painkillers that can be prescribed, expand insurance coverage for treatment and increase access to treatment centers. Stirpe also noted that he’ll keep pushing his legislation that calls for insurance companies to cover 90 days of inpatient treatment, because longer treatment times are more effective in breaking the cycle of addiction.