Paying for Inpatient Drug Rehab in Ohio
Paying for substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation is always a top priority. There are 320 facilities in the state that accept Medicaid, and Ohio maintains a toll free hotline if you have questions about applying and receiving services through Medicaid. The consumer hotline is (800) 324-8680.
Medicare is accepted at 165 drug rehab centers in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse publishes a guide to SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment on its website, offering guidance to obtain services and coverage under both Medicare and Medicaid.
In terms of opioid treatment, Ohio will be the recipient of close to $26 million in federal funding over two years as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse is focusing the funding on prevention, medication-assisted treatment, SBIRT, recovery support, workforce development and first.
Ohio has created an action plan for local communities to face the opioid epidemic, in particular, The Action Guide to Address Opioid Abuse. Developed by a task force created by the governor, the guide draws on best practices and services in local communities that are funded by the state. Tools also include prevention programs, the addition of increased capacity for recovery housing and innovative models for connection Ohioans to treatment.
“We can give communities the tools, but we’re not going to defeat this just from the top down,” says Governor John R. Kasich in the action guide. “Problems that we have in this state have to be dealt with right in the neighborhood, right in the family and right in the community.”
The state has also created an Addiction Treatment Program that assists individuals in the court system to obtain substance abuse treatment in 22 counties in Ohio.
Ohio has been called “Ground Zero” of the opioid epidemic. Hitting urban, suburban and rural areas alike, 23 deaths a week were attributed to heroin in 2016. The opioid fentanyl is showing the steepest rise in opioid-related deaths, according to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), with a deadlier subset called carfentanil emerging and leading to more half of the 4,050 overdose deaths in Ohio in 2016. Overall, drug deaths were up 25% from 2015 to 2016.
Direct and indirect ramifications of the opioid epidemic are plentiful. Ohio’s foster care systems has increased by 10 percent over a one year span from 2015 to 2016, according to reports, with number of children served soaring to 15,000. Emergency services and morgues are also being stretched beyond their means. A Montgomery County coroner whose morgue serves more than 30 counties, estimated last year that 60-70% of its bodies are the results of opioid overdoses.
Good news has surfaced, however. ODH also reported in 2016 a lowering of overdose deaths in relation to prescription opioids, marking the lowest rates in seven years.
“The continued increase in opioid-related deaths reaffirms that we still have much work to do, but Ohio is seeing important progress in reducing the number of prescription opioids available for abuse and prescription-related overdose deaths,” said Dr. Mark Hurst, medical director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and interim medical director of ODH. “This progress is significant because prescription opioid abuse is frequently a gateway to heroin and fentanyl use later on.”
For the fourth year, ODH reports opioid prescriptions declined in 2016, mirrored by a 78.2 percent decline over four years in “doctor shopping” for prescription opioids. These rates of improvement have been attributed to increased law enforcement efforts, opioid prescription guidelines and the use of Ohio Automated Rx, the state prescription drug monitoring system.