Breaking Down Barriers to Treatment

SAMHSA Advisory: Low-Barrier Models of Care for Substance Use Disorders can help you remove barriers to treatment in your practice. This publication discusses the low-barrier model of care for SUD treatment that seeks to remove barriers, making services readily available and easily accessible while promoting a nonjudgmental, welcoming, and accepting environment.

Learn more about Low-Threshold Treatment with AHRQ’s The Role of Low-Threshold Treatment for Patients with OUD in Primary Care and how to address barriers.

Expanding the Workforce

In 2024, SAMHSA released its Core Curriculum Integration in Healthcare Profession Education for medical, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, nurse, social worker, public health, and counselor academic programs to:

• Train early on about SUD and reduce stigma.
• Teach that SUD is a treatable disease, similar to diabetes and heart disease.
• Increase access to SUD screening, assessments, and services for millions of Americans with SUD.

Additional SAMHSA Supports

Practitioners with general information and training questions can contact SAMHSA’s Provider Support Team at providersupport@samhsa.hhs.gov or by calling 1-866-287-2728.

Practitioner Champion Initiative

You can help to expand access to MOUD and create a greater awareness of the effectiveness of these medications. However, barriers to increasing availability of MOUD remain, including stigma and hesitation from practitioners to integrate it into their practice.

Learn more about SAMHSA’s Practitioner Champion Initiative.

Practitioner Champion Videos

Learn from Practitioner Champions who have integrated SUD and MOUD services into their practices for years on how they integrated, the benefits, and dispelling stigma within their practice.