Anthem Foundation Funds Substance Use Disorder Programs

To increase care for mental health and substance use disorders, the Anthem Foundation is providing a large grant to various organizations focusing on prevention of substance use disorders and intervention for those struggling with substance abuse.

The grants aim to improve access to and quality of treatment and promote community support for recovery.

Over the next three years, the Anthem Foundation plans on investing up to $30 million in programs that focus on mental health and substance use disorder treatment. On May 25, 2022, the organization announced that it would be supplying 15 different organizations with $13 million collectively, each company receiving a different sized portion. 

“Today, 9.5 million adults in the U.S. report having both a substance use disorder and a mental illness, and substance use disorders alone affect over 20 million Americans aged 12 and over. These startling figures drive home our commitment to partnering with organizations who are delivering solutions on a local and national level,” Shantanu Agrawal, MD, chief health officer at Anthem, said in the press release.

“By acknowledging the physical, behavioral, and social drivers of health as they relate to substance use disorders, the Anthem Foundation – along with its recently awarded grantees – is positioned to provide meaningful solutions in achieving better health and advancing health equity,” continued Agrawal.

The Anthem Foundation strongly believes that the organizations participating—organizations such as Shatterproof, Mental Health America, and Emergency Medicine Foundation— are equipped to support the goal of improving substance use disorder treatment.

Anthem Foundation has a history of health equity efforts that spans more than two decades, through partnerships and new programs that target care disparities. The organization’s health equity actions revolve around four pillars: substance use disorders, maternal healthcare, food as medicine, and disaster relief.

Payers have been exploring options related to treating substance use disorders with urgency in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An example of this occurred in November 2021, when the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Opioids and Behavioral Health committee gathered to build a network of providers to seek methods of treating substance use disorder. The paper that the NQF constructed established that patients who struggle with substance use disorders may face various barriers such as coverage disruptions, harmful regulations, and financial issues.

The forum, however, noted that payers can take various steps to reduce the frequency of these issues. These strategies include using bundled payment methods, trying advanced interoperability practices, covering harm reduction services, and supporting enrollment for those departing from the justice system.

A partnership that began in June 2021 between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, New Directions Behavioral Health, and Shatterproof attempted to increase care for those with substance use disorders. The groups worked together to build a platform that allowed patients to review the way they received treatment, critiquing the methods of the provider.

Despite efforts such as these, a report from January 2022 created by Urban Institute stated that young Medicaid beneficiaries, particularly adolescents, are not receiving adequate care for substance use disorders. Researchers concluded this based on the limited number of adolescents enrolled in prevention programs outside of school.