Kevin Roy, Chief Public Policy Officer Advocacy/Policy

Before I started my work with Shatterproof, I was Executive Vice President for Autism Speaks. My interest in work surrounding addiction was sparked by the idea that I could make a difference the way we did with advocacy and awareness for autism. My goal was to completely change the public perception of addiction to a need that had to be addressed urgently. There is a story that Gary, our CEO, tells in one of his speeches where he talked about his son, Brian, experimenting with marijuana at age 13. My daughter was about that age at the time. I thought to myself, “I may not think this impacts me, but my kids are coming to an age where this should worry me as much as it would any parent.” We are all impacted by addiction in one way or another, big or small.

I was not impacted by autism either, but I saw kids at church or at the grocery store who had autism, and just because I was not impacted, it did not mean I did not want to help them. We should be thinking about addiction from the perspective of a societal problem. I should care about it because it affects neighbors, friends, and families, but it could impact my own family, too. I have found that others are interested in reducing the impact of drug use and addiction in our country.  For example, I invited a good friend and his wife to the Chairman's Reception last year. Even though they weren't directly affected by addiction, they believed in the cause, and they made a significant contribution to support our work based on that. My perspective, like theirs, is that this is also a societal issue, not just a personal one, even though many have been deeply and personally impacted.

What impresses me about Shatterproof is our get-it-done attitude and our culture of evidence-based solutions. These are all intelligent approaches to addressing an issue like addiction. One of the things we have tried to do is make sure that life-saving treatments are paid for by insurance, and that they are readily available so that there are no barriers such as prior authorization. If someone needed access to Suboxone or Vivitrol, they should be able to get it quickly and not have to wait a few days or a week until they could get their commercial insurance, or Medicaid plan approval.

We hope to make those options more accessible to everyone. Insurance is not the only aspect of this problem. Sometimes doctors aren’t comfortable prescribing addiction-related treatment medications. In the case of buprenorphine, many doctors were prohibited from administering it as a treatment without a special waiver. We were trying to lower the barriers so that more medical professionals feel comfortable providing medications to treat opioid use disorder. Fortunately, we supported legislation that removed the special “X waiver” to prescribe buprenorphine altogether, and it was signed into law in December after several years of working on it.

We are also leading the charge to bring integrated care into the primary care setting by ensuring the Collaborative Care Model is covered by state Medicaid agencies. This is a model that has more than 80 randomized controlled trials showing it improves outcomes.   It makes it more likely someone can get help for mental health or addiction earlier, by empowering their primary care doctor with tools to do so.  As a result, many people could receive treatment earlier, saving their lives.

One of our other core priorities is to make sure that addiction training reaches all medical professionals: doctors, nurses, and physician's assistants earlier. Basics about SUD should be taught in medical school as a condition of getting a DEA license. We want all professionals to know what addiction looks like, know that it is treatable, and do their part in reducing the stigma around this disease. Once again, we are fortunate through the support of so many to have helped pass a new law called the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act in December to make this a reality.

There is a greater need for addiction treatment and prevention than ever before. Implementation of policy changes can systematically change the landscape for the better and I am grateful that we have the opportunity to do so every day.