News Release - STATE MEDICAID DRUG POLICIES IMPEDING ACCESS TO EFFECTIVE DRUG FOR ALCOHOL ABUSEEfforts to curb rising health costs inadvertently inhibit use of
inexpensive therapy proven to help problem drinking
WASHINGTON DC, November 19, 2007, Many states could more effectively address the huge financial and societal burden of alcohol abuse by changing policies that may be inadvertently impeding access to an inexpensive prescription drug known to reduce problem drinking. These findings appear in a new study in today’s online version of the journal, Health Services Research.
The study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Georgetown University examined how state efforts to control spending on Medicaid, the program that provides health care for low-income individuals and families, may be limiting the ability of physicians to treat alcohol addiction with a widely studied generic drug called naltrexone. The research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP).
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