Recovery providers worry about meeting needs

BY EMILY DUGGAN

In a May 13 teleconference with Congresswoman Annie Kuster, New Hampshire recovery providers outlined their concerns about meeting the growing need for substance abuse and mental health treatment as the state deals with the pandemic.

The court battle against the Affordable Care Act, set to be heard in October, could threaten the health insurance of up to 200,000 New Hampshire residents, Kuster told a panel of the state’s healthcare leaders, as she introduced recent congressional efforts to aid those that need healthcare assistance.

Kuster focused on the HEROES Act, a federal coronavirus relief package that earmarks $3 billion to support treatment for mental health and substance use disorders in states, especially as the pandemic takes a toll on residents’ mental health and sobriety. The bill was approved by the U.S. House on May 15 and now heads to the Senate.

“Medicaid is the nation’s largest provider of behavioral health services,” Kuster said. “This administration budget singles out Medicaid expansion for budget cuts, and often, when I think of the response to the opioid crisis here in New Hampshire, I can’t begin to imagine where we would be without Medicaid expansion.”

‘Not enough beds’

The call was attended by providers from hospitals and recovery centers around the state. Many of them expressed concerns about New Hampshire residents being unable to receive treatment that they may need right now. The experts also hinted at admission rates rising because of stress caused by the pandemic and accompanying surge in unemployment.

National statistics show that opioid-related deaths increase 3.5% with every 1% rise in the unemployment rate, said Kim Bock, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition of Recovery Residences. New Hampshire’s unemployment rate has surged during the pandemic, from 2.6% in March to roughly 20%. She expects that if the trends stay true to the statistics, that the state will “not have enough beds” in recovery residences.

At the same time, Bock said there has been a drop in the number of referrals and new people coming into recovery programs, even when most professionals agree the need is high.

“There was some sort of flow interruption in treatment,” she said. “People are afraid to go into recovery, to go into treatment right now, afraid to go near any kind of emergency room. They’re afraid of contracting Covid.”

Patrick Ho, a psychiatrist at Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, said that with many people putting off treatment, mental health and substance use disorders can reach a crisis point.

“We are seeing that there are so many more needs that have become apparent because of Covid-19, for our patients that rely on so many services that we can provide, and some of which are very difficult to find in New Hampshire,” Ho said. “But when those services become even more difficult to access, then we see a lot of crises that could have potentially been prevented.”

With demand for substance abuse treatment and mental health treatment expected to rise, recovery professionals need to prepare for “the other side and what it looks like,” said Shanna Large, director of substance use disorders at Concord-based Riverbend Community Mental Health.

“We want to keep moving forward and having treatment as an option for everyone, because we are very concerned that the backside of this is not only going to show mental health, but substance use,” Large said. “We are going to see a lot, and I’m going to be honest, it’s a little terrifying.”

This article is being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.