Melissa Weimer, Jeanette Tetrault, and J. Craig Allen recently published an op-ed in the New Haven Register highlighting the substance use disorder health epidemic and need for an increased addiction medicine workforce. Read the entire Op-Ed at the New Haven Register.
Op-Ed: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic with Workforce Development
Dr. Kelly Clark and Dr. Melissa Weimer visit Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s office in Washington DC
Even though substance use disorder (SUD) is treatable, most Americans who struggle with SUD never receive treatment, in part because there is a severe shortage of trained medical professionals who can treat addiction.
Consider this fact: according to the latest estimates, nearly 21 million Americans nationwide needed treatment for a substance use disorder but only 4 million reported receiving any form of treatment. Though we have made significant progress in expanding patient access to medications for addiction treatment (MAT) over the past decade, research shows our efforts have not kept pace with growing needs.
As addiction physician specialists, we’ve witnessed our nation continually fail to make the investments needed to build an adequate addiction treatment workforce. So it is imperative that Congress ensures funds are appropriated for programs that will.
Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR, FASAM is an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine and Medical Director of the Yale Addiction Medicine Consult Service at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Jeanette Tetrault, MD, FACP, FASAM is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and Program Director for the Yale Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program.
J. Craig Allen, MD, FASAM is the President of the Connecticut Society of Addiction Medicine and a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry for the Yale residency program and the Rushford Addiction Medicine Fellowship program.
