Recovery leaders address addiction care gaps and housing integrity

Addiction treatment and recovery leaders are convening to address critical gaps in the continuum of care. At the Tennessee Recovery Continuum Summit in Crossville, experts and policy leaders discussed the need for better connections between evidence-based treatment, recovery housing, peer support, and long-term mental health and employment services.

Anna Stewart, Co-Founder of Reach Impact Institute, emphasized that addiction should be treated as a chronic disease requiring ongoing management, similar to diabetes. She noted that current systems often operate independently, leaving individuals without direction when transitioning from initial treatment to long-term stability.

In a separate federal workshop in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, recovery providers addressed the need for integrity and accountability in recovery housing. The discussions were influenced by a major fraud scandal in Arizona, where criminal enterprises operating unlicensed sober living homes allegedly defrauded the state’s Medicaid program of billions of dollars by exploiting vulnerable populations.