June 28 (UPI) -- Minnesota and Nebraska will soon get help from the federal government to fight opioid abuse.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on Friday that the two Midwestern states have been approved for Medicaid demonstrations that will match state funding to improve treatment for opioid use disorder. These are a result of a 2017 commitment from CMS to help states combat the opioid crisis.
The Section 1115 demonstrations will match funds committed by each state to improve treatment in facilities that meet the criteria of an institution for mental disease.
The Minnesota demonstration will help the state's Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics integrate healthcare providers to identify and treat more people struggling with substance abuse.
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Minnesota will likely use its demonstration funds to expand substance abuse services by providing Medicaid beneficiaries "more appropriate" facilities.
Other states have shown success in using demonstration funding to curb opioid abuse.
During its first 10 months of demonstration implementation, Virginia has seen inpatient admissions for substance use disorders reduced by 4 percent and for opioid use disorder by 6 percent -- and opioid pain medication for Medicaid beneficiaries has fallen by 27 percent.
After one year of implementation in Maryland, the demonstration has led to more than 8,000 Medicaid beneficiaries receiving residential treatment services.
This effort is a part of the Roadmap to Address the Opioid Epidemic, a plan rolled out in March by CMS to combat the opioid epidemic.
"The Trump administration is committed to offering a more flexible, streamlined approach to accelerate states' ability to expand addiction treatment services during this national crisis," said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. "Whereas only a handful of states were approved for these demonstrations before 2017, our approach has allowed us to approve nearly 20 more demonstrations in just 18 months."
