Berkshire County — On December 23, 2024, Gov. Maura Healey signed “An Act relative to treatments and coverage for substance use disorder and recovery coach licensure.” According to a press release issued by Gov. Healey’s office, the act, which was previously worked on by the State Legislature, will make treatment and recovery support affordable and accessible for residents dealing with substance-use disorder.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been motivated by those who have tragically lost loved ones to the opioid crisis that is impacting all of our communities,” Gov. Healey said via the press release. “Their stories have served as important reminders of the urgent need to increase treatment, prevention, and recovery services to save lives.”
Gary Pratt, the director of South County Recovery Center, and center recovery coach Stephanie Holcomb told The Berkshire Edge that they both feel the act is critically important in the battle against substance-use disorder.
The South County Recovery Center, which is operated by Rural Recovery Resources, opened its Great Barrington office in May 2022. The center offers programs including coaching, groups, peer-support services, and resources for addicts and recovering addicts.
“The act helps when it comes to treating people affected by substance use more humanely,” Pratt said. “Through the act, there is also streamlining of existing services and the implementation of universal standards for recovery coaching.” As Pratt explained, part of the act establishes a system to license recovery coaches through the Department of Public Health. The department will oversee the qualifications of recovery coaches to comply with state regulations. It also establishes a peer-support program for recovery coaches and employers, which includes mentorship and technical assistance programs.
“There is a major importance when it comes to recovery coaching where you must have a connection with people, where you are meeting them where they are at with no pressure,” Pratt explained. “The process for becoming a recovery coach has been that you had to take classes through an organization like the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery, and then you would get certified through Massachusetts. But in the last few years, Massachusetts has created the Recovery Education Collaborative. Now that the Department of Public Health will be overseeing the licensing of recovery coaches, it should be easier for people to get credentials.”
Another part of the act mandates that health insurance providers cover the costs of opioid reversal drugs, including naloxone and Narcan, and expand access to them. The insurance providers are now mandated to cover these costs without any cost sharing or prior authorization.
This part of the act also requires hospitals and treatment facilities to educate patients on these emergency opioid antagonists (EOAs) and to provide at least two doses of EOAs to patients upon their discharge who have had a history of opioid-use disorder. “Costs should never be a barrier to saving somebody’s life,” Pratt said. “Removing this barrier is just one more step in saving more lives. Recently, they have made Naloxone available to purchase over the counter. But still, it is a big cost to people to buy it over the counter.”
According to the CVS website, the cost of a package of Narcan is approximately $45.00. “To have the state mandate insurance companies to cover EOAs with no cost sharing is phenomenal,” Pratt said.
“Previously, there were pharmacists who were telling people that they couldn’t get [Narcan], even with a standing order,” Holcomb said. “I think a lot of the reasons why it has been hard for people to obtain EOAs has to do with ‘stigma shame.’ For example, if you go to the pharmacy and try to buy a pack of needles, no matter what you need them for, a lot of times people look at you funny. They always treat people [with addiction disorder] differently.”
“Insurance companies are generally in the business to not do something,” Pratt said. “Having a way through that [insurance company] lobby is a difficult process.”
In relation to this, the act also prohibits life insurance companies from limiting or refusing coverage to a person based on their EOA history.
The act also updates requirements for insurance providers to ensure adequate coverage and access to pain-management services without prior authorization, including non-opioid alternatives to pain treatment. “People have known forever that there are different approaches to help with pain, and you don’t always have to use opioids,” Pratt said. “There is a time and place for opioids, including after surgeries and because of chronic pain. However, there are other effective ways to treat pain without opioids. I think part of what has gotten us into this addiction crisis is, obviously, the rampant prescription of opioids. I know for myself that if I have a sprained ankle, I don’t need 60 Percocets for a sprained ankle. The more options that are available to a person, the better.”
Pratt said that data for the number of overdose deaths in 2024 in Berkshire County has not yet been made available by the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH); however, DPH reported that there were 19 overdose deaths in the area in 2023, and from 2013 to 2023, there have been 441 overdose deaths.
“There have been lots of cases of overdose reversals, and that is a fantastic thing,” Pratt said. “But the flip side of that coin is that most overdose reversals aren’t reported. We still might be having overdoses at really high levels, but they’re not fatal. My fear is that when the public sees a reduction in fatal overdoses, people start to think that our job is close to completion. People let their guards down because they think the addiction crisis isn’t drastic to the general public. We still see it as drastic because, every day, we still hear about people whom we’ve lost due to this crisis. This is still a public health emergency, and until we learn that nobody has died from an overdose, we can’t say that the job is complete.”
For more information about Rural Recovery and the South County Recovery Center, visit its website.
