AATOD’s Five-Year Plan
2022-2026
As we cross into 2022, there are approximately 1,900 operating OTPs in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. At the beginning of our last five-year plan in 2017, there were about 1,500 operating OTPs.
The OTPs have expanded over the course of the past five years, but the expansion has not been significant enough to meet the increasing needs of people with opioid use disorders (OUDs), requiring access to comprehensive treatment services, which are provided through OTPs. This is the result of restrictive zoning ordinances, which prevent OTPs from opening in addition to limitations of third-party reimbursement. It is also important to point out that Wyoming does not have any operating OTPs and West Virginia has not opened a new OTP in over ten years. Accordingly, AATOD will devote its resources to work with federal and state governments to increase access to OTPs wherever they are needed. We will work with all treatment provider entities, including non-profit and proprietary entities to expand access to care in underserved areas of the United States.
Additionally, there has been an increasing number of patients being admitted to OTPs. AATOD began to collect patient census data during 2021 under a grant through the Opioid Response Network (ORN) in partnership with the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD). NASADAD has collected data from 1,547 OTPs through State Opioid Treatment Authorities (SOTAs) and preliminary findings indicate that approximately 513,000 patients are in treatment as of January 1, 2021. It is important to keep in mind that the universe of OTPs as of January 1, 2021 include 1,826 operating centers. Clearly there are a greater number of people in treatment and we will plan to release the extrapolated patient numbers during the second quarter of 2022 with a comprehensive narrative.
AATOD will continue to work with SAMHSA and all relevant policy partners to accomplish the following goals. The first will be to identify existing treatment resources for opioid dependent individuals. The second will be to identify where care is needed in underserved areas of the country. The third will be to identify what financial resources are needed to provide support for such patient delivery. The fourth will be to work with all relevant parties in the criminal justice system and other parts of the behavioral and primary medical care system to ensure that patients receive comprehensive and well-coordinated care. It is understood that this is a multi-year effort and will require continued and ongoing coordination with policy partners, as indicated above.
