Biden Administration Unveils $22B Plan to Tackle Opioid Epidemic, Boost Substance Abuse Treatment

The Biden-Harris administration’s proposed budget for 2025 includes substantial funding to support access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and prevention. The proposed budget aims to build upon these efforts by allocating $21.8 billion to combat the surge in overdose deaths nationwide. The budget allocates substantial resources specifically to combat the opioid overdose crisis, building upon the administration’s previous initiatives, such as encouraging housing providers to stock opioid overdose reversal drugs like Narcan.

A fact sheet released by the White House about the budget touted Biden’s elimination of the X-Waiver – this move increased the number of providers who can initiate opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment from 129,000 to almost two million.

The new budget includes plans to increase access to OUD care even further, with $21.8 billion allocated to SUD treatment and recovery, includes a requirement for insurers to have an adequate network of behavioral health providers. It also strengthens the Department of Labor’s (DOL) ability to enforce mental health and SUD requirements among large group market health plans. Finally, the proposal would increase funding for the State Opioid Response grant program, which was designed to provide states with resources to improve access to medications for the treatment of OUD (MOUD), prevention, harm reduction and treatment services for SUDs.

UnitedHealth Group has Paid More than $2 Billion to Providers Following Cyberattack

UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare.

Change Healthcare offers e-prescription software and tools for payment management, so the interruptions left many providers temporarily unable to fill medications or get reimbursed for their services by insurers.

UnitedHealth, which provides care for 152 million people, said on Monday that it began releasing medical claims preparation software, which will be available to thousands of customers in the next several days. The company called it “an important step in the resumption of services.”

On Friday, UnitedHealth said it restored Change Healthcare’s electronic payments platform, after rebooting 99% of its pharmacy network services earlier this month. It also introduced a temporary funding assistance program to help health-care providers experiencing cash flow trouble because of the attack.

UnitedHealth said the advances will not need to be repaid until claims flows return to normal. Federal agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have introduced additional options to ensure that states and other stakeholders can make interim payments to providers, according to a release.

A survey published by the American Hospital Association on Friday found that 94% of hospitals have experienced financial disruptions from the Change Healthcare attack. More than 60% of the 1,000 hospitals surveyed estimated the revenue hit to be around $1 million per day. Responses were collected between March 9 and March 12.

UnitedHealth hasn’t disclosed what kind of data was compromised in the attack, or whether it cooperated with the cyber threat actor in order to restore systems. The company said it’s been working closely with law enforcement and third parties like Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud’s Mandiant to assess the breach.

Medicare Aims to Enhance Access, Services, but Coverage Gaps May Hinder Progress 

With the growing senior population and rising mental health and substance use issues among this demographic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) are looking for new approaches to address behavioral health concerns.

Roughly 20% of people over the age of 55 have experienced a behavioral health issue, according to the CDC. In order to combat this issue, CMS has rolled out several initiatives to help expand the behavioral health workforce, offer more services and move toward value-based care.

The Biden administration continues prioritizing behavioral health for seniors in its new 2025 budget proposal. The proposal includes $8.1 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, including specific funding for older adult suicide prevention programs.

Despite these efforts, Medicare has a long way to go regarding behavioral health and moving the dial on value-based care.

OneOhio Recovery Foundation 2024 Regional Grant Cycle

The 2024 Regional Grant request for proposals (RFP) has been posted and the registration process opened in the OneOhio Grant Portal on March 4. The application window will open in the portal on April 2, and a scoring rubric and application questions will be available on the Foundation’s website at or before that time. More information is available on the Foundation’s Grant Headquarters webpage.

The deadline to submit applications in the OneOhio Grant Portal is May 3. Organizations across Ohio are encouraged to submit applications to advance innovative, evidence-based ideas for combating the impact of substance use while enhancing prevention, treatment and recovery services and programming around the state. Successful proposals will be selected through a competitive process to share in the OneOhio Recovery Foundation’s 2024 Regional Grant Cycle, its first. As much as $51 million will be allocated by the Foundation in this cycle.