NAATP calls on Biden to get COVID‐19 vaccination to patients

In a Jan. 26 open letter to President Biden, the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) called for COVID‐19 vaccines to be prioritized for people with substance use disorders and their treatment providers, to ensure that treatment providers are identified as front‐line health workers with access to personal protective equipment; require data collection of all COVID‐19 testing, cases and deaths by race, ethnicity, disability status, gender identity, sexual orientation and age; and revise the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' definition of telehealth in the Medicare program to authorize and allow reimbursement of audio‐only service delivery. Also in the letter: recommendations that the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease exclusion be eliminated, that there be a focus on equity, and that a better Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provider list be developed to include credentials and determine appropriate treatment referrals. Finally, the letter includes a call to enforce the SUPPORT Act for covering all Food and Drug Administration–approved medications and to reduce utilization management barriers to medications for opioid use disorders such as prior authorization. For the letter, go to https://www.naatp.org/resources/news/naatp‐delivers‐provider‐priorities‐president‐biden/jan‐27‐2021.