Journal of Addictive Diseases, 33:388–389, 2014 C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Copyright ISSN: 1055-0887 print / 1545-0848 online DOI: 10.1080/10550887.2014.970945
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JOINING FORCES FOR BETTER CARE
BACKGROUND
generally aware of this deficit in their education, but lack adequate opportunities to rectify it.2 We identified a need to focus in two areas: the education of primary care physicians in addiction medicine and the promotion of more and better specialty training in this field. Osteopathic physicians disproportionately meet the needs of Americans for primary care, with over 60% of DOs dedicated to this work; however, they are like allopathic physicians in their limited effectiveness in managing an often fatal disease that affects a huge proportion of the population. This knowledge deficit must be addressed in undergraduate and graduate medical education as well as in continuing education for physicians in practice. We have a critical role to play in all these venues.
On July 19, 2014, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) House of Delegates voted to pursue a single accreditation system for graduate medical education, effectively merging the roles of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the AOA/American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). Although the decision was not without controversy, it is now a fait accompli, and the onus on the AOA specialty and sub-specialty societies is not to debate the merits of the decision but to develop and implement strategies for the new environment that will promote our profession and, more importantly, leverage this opportunity to improve the health care of Americans with substance use disorders. AOA, representing more than 104,000 osteopathic physicians, has an important role to play in this arena, and AOAAM has been and will continue to take a leadership role in facilitating this.
Medical Education We have created a task force on undergraduate medical education to interface with medical schools to increase training in addiction medicine. A goal is that every medical school graduate should have basic skills in identifying substance use disorders, communicating with patients regarding the disease, making brief therapeutic interventions, and making appropriate referrals for more definitive treatment. The task force will collaborate with the Coalition on Physician Education in Substance Use Disorders (COPE-assn.org) to pursue these goals in MD as well as DO schools. Two of our past presidents (Tony Dekker, DO, and Steve Wyatt, DO) and I are currently providing leadership to this volunteer organization devoted to assuring that all physicians are trained to prevent, identify, and treat substance use disorders.
Strategic Planning It was in this spirit that the AOAAM met on June 20, 2014, in Chicago to plan future efforts. The emphasis of the meeting was on education. It is appropriate that we conducted this meeting not only at a time of transition in osteopathic GME, but also at a time when the media is filled with reports of a national epidemic of addiction. We were mindful of the findings of the 2012 CASA report1 to the effect that there is an extreme disparity between the prevalence of substance use disorders, which affect over 15% of Americans at some times in their lives (excluding nicotine), and the readiness of physicians to diagnose and treat it. Physicians seem
388
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Graduate Medical Education Despite the prevalence of addictive disease in the country, there has historically been poor training in addictive disorders across primary care and sub-specialty residencies and a dearth of addiction medicine fellowships. However, AOAAM members currently have faculty positions in several graduate medical programs and fellowships. Our goal is to increase that number, which may be facilitated by the new partnership in residency accreditations. Continuing Medical Education (CME) Another task force has been created to focus on CME. AOAAM will continue with our collaborative grants from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Prescribers’ Clinical Support System (PCSS) for Opioid Therapies, and PCSS for Medication Assisted Therapies. These are national training and mentoring projects developed to address the opioid epidemic and increase the availability of medication-assisted treatments for patients in a variety of settings. AOAAM is currently responsible for 29 buprenorphine certification programs, completion of which enables physicians to qualify for the DATA 2000 waiver that enables them to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid addiction. AOAAM will continue to provide innovative programs at the AOA annual osteopathic medical education meetings. Our members are active participants in annual American Society of Addiction Medicine annual meetings and present at numerous educational symposia organized by allopathic groups. We will continue to lecture at local and national medical
389
meetings about the principles and practice of addiction medicine, new treatment options, and developing research. CONCLUSION Our strategic planning meeting confirmed that AOAAM will continue to aggressively develop and implement tactics for increasing the competence of physicians, both allopathic and osteopathic, in the diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorders. This transition to single accreditation is an opportune time, lives depend on it. Margaret M. Kotz, DO President, American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine REFERENCES 1. National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Addiction Medicine: closing the gap between science and practice. June 2012. http:// www.casacolumbia.org/templates/News Room.aspx?articleid=678&zoneidt=51 (accessed November 6, 2013). 2. Wakeman SE, Baggett MV, Pham-Kanter G, Campbell EG. Internal medicine residents’ training in substance use disorders; a survey of the quality of instruction and resident self-perceived preparedness to diagnose and treat addiction. Substance Abuse, 2013. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2013. 797540. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ abs / 10.1080 / 08897077.2013 . 797540#. UeLt2Z3D9U0 (accessed July 14, 2013).
Copyright of Journal of Addictive Diseases is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JOINING FORCES FOR BETTER CARE
BACKGROUND
generally aware of this deficit in their education, but lack adequate opportunities to rectify it.2 We identified a need to focus in two areas: the education of primary care physicians in addiction medicine and the promotion of more and better specialty training in this field. Osteopathic physicians disproportionately meet the needs of Americans for primary care, with over 60% of DOs dedicated to this work; however, they are like allopathic physicians in their limited effectiveness in managing an often fatal disease that affects a huge proportion of the population. This knowledge deficit must be addressed in undergraduate and graduate medical education as well as in continuing education for physicians in practice. We have a critical role to play in all these venues.
On July 19, 2014, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) House of Delegates voted to pursue a single accreditation system for graduate medical education, effectively merging the roles of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the AOA/American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). Although the decision was not without controversy, it is now a fait accompli, and the onus on the AOA specialty and sub-specialty societies is not to debate the merits of the decision but to develop and implement strategies for the new environment that will promote our profession and, more importantly, leverage this opportunity to improve the health care of Americans with substance use disorders. AOA, representing more than 104,000 osteopathic physicians, has an important role to play in this arena, and AOAAM has been and will continue to take a leadership role in facilitating this.
Medical Education We have created a task force on undergraduate medical education to interface with medical schools to increase training in addiction medicine. A goal is that every medical school graduate should have basic skills in identifying substance use disorders, communicating with patients regarding the disease, making brief therapeutic interventions, and making appropriate referrals for more definitive treatment. The task force will collaborate with the Coalition on Physician Education in Substance Use Disorders (COPE-assn.org) to pursue these goals in MD as well as DO schools. Two of our past presidents (Tony Dekker, DO, and Steve Wyatt, DO) and I are currently providing leadership to this volunteer organization devoted to assuring that all physicians are trained to prevent, identify, and treat substance use disorders.
Strategic Planning It was in this spirit that the AOAAM met on June 20, 2014, in Chicago to plan future efforts. The emphasis of the meeting was on education. It is appropriate that we conducted this meeting not only at a time of transition in osteopathic GME, but also at a time when the media is filled with reports of a national epidemic of addiction. We were mindful of the findings of the 2012 CASA report1 to the effect that there is an extreme disparity between the prevalence of substance use disorders, which affect over 15% of Americans at some times in their lives (excluding nicotine), and the readiness of physicians to diagnose and treat it. Physicians seem
388
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Graduate Medical Education Despite the prevalence of addictive disease in the country, there has historically been poor training in addictive disorders across primary care and sub-specialty residencies and a dearth of addiction medicine fellowships. However, AOAAM members currently have faculty positions in several graduate medical programs and fellowships. Our goal is to increase that number, which may be facilitated by the new partnership in residency accreditations. Continuing Medical Education (CME) Another task force has been created to focus on CME. AOAAM will continue with our collaborative grants from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Prescribers’ Clinical Support System (PCSS) for Opioid Therapies, and PCSS for Medication Assisted Therapies. These are national training and mentoring projects developed to address the opioid epidemic and increase the availability of medication-assisted treatments for patients in a variety of settings. AOAAM is currently responsible for 29 buprenorphine certification programs, completion of which enables physicians to qualify for the DATA 2000 waiver that enables them to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid addiction. AOAAM will continue to provide innovative programs at the AOA annual osteopathic medical education meetings. Our members are active participants in annual American Society of Addiction Medicine annual meetings and present at numerous educational symposia organized by allopathic groups. We will continue to lecture at local and national medical
389
meetings about the principles and practice of addiction medicine, new treatment options, and developing research. CONCLUSION Our strategic planning meeting confirmed that AOAAM will continue to aggressively develop and implement tactics for increasing the competence of physicians, both allopathic and osteopathic, in the diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorders. This transition to single accreditation is an opportune time, lives depend on it. Margaret M. Kotz, DO President, American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine REFERENCES 1. National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Addiction Medicine: closing the gap between science and practice. June 2012. http:// www.casacolumbia.org/templates/News Room.aspx?articleid=678&zoneidt=51 (accessed November 6, 2013). 2. Wakeman SE, Baggett MV, Pham-Kanter G, Campbell EG. Internal medicine residents’ training in substance use disorders; a survey of the quality of instruction and resident self-perceived preparedness to diagnose and treat addiction. Substance Abuse, 2013. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2013. 797540. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ abs / 10.1080 / 08897077.2013 . 797540#. UeLt2Z3D9U0 (accessed July 14, 2013).
Copyright of Journal of Addictive Diseases is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
