They are often called “dual diagnosis patients:” those who are in need of both mental health services and substance abuse treatment. Getting them better treatment and offering more treatment through Medicaid could help to reduce South Carolina’s high rate of opioid overdoses, officials said.
Nationally, about 35 percent of mental health patients have a dual diagnosis for substance use but under South Carolina Medicaid, it is less than 1 percent of patients. Officials say it is clearly underdiagnosed and may be due to a problem drug treatment centers have in being able to bill Medicaid for some services. The state got a $7.2 million federal grant to implement a new model that makes integrated care easier and SC Medicaid is also pursuing more than $5 million in next year’s budget to increase reimbursements.
Interim Director Eunice Medina of the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicaid in South Carolina, made the need clear in her budget presentation Jan. 22. Speaking to members of the House Ways and Means Healthcare Subcommittee, she pointed to some grim statistics: South Carolina had the 10th worst opioid overdose rate in 2022 and those deaths had risen six percent from the previous year.
More substance use treatment and mental health care through Medicaid could lower deaths https://t.co/hUD1lMpElt
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) February 3, 2025
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.