Dear Delegate Wachsmann and Health and Human Services Committe members,
I hope this message finds you well. My name is Dr. Lauren Grawert, and I am an addiction psychiatrist practicing in Northern Virginia in the Arlington Virginia area. I am also a member of the Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine (VASAM) Advocacy Committee and the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV).
I am writing to introduce myself and to express VASAM's strong support for HB 712. As an addiction psychiatrist who provides office-based buprenorphine treatment daily, I greatly appreciate the bill’s clarification that a patient’s refusal of counseling should not, in itself, preclude access to medication treatment for opioid use disorder. While therapy is an important component of addiction care, in practice, rigid counseling requirements can unintentionally create barriers to care for some of our most vulnerable patients, and HB 712 reflects a thoughtful, evidence-based approach to improving access to life-saving medication while preserving clinical judgment.
Of note, VASAM submitted a formal request to the Virginia Board of Medicine last fall also asking that the counseling requirement be removed. The Board of Medicine responded that it would defer to the state legislation (you) to make this change if warranted. During the public comment period, our request received a total of 172 public comments from Virginians all over the state which were all in staunch support of this change. There were no comments that were against the requested update.
Thank you for your leadership on this important issue. HB172 would go a long way in helping Virginia addiction treatment specialists like myself save more lives and combat the opioid epidemic.
Warm regards,
Lauren Grawert, MD
Addiction Psychiatrist
Chief Medical Officer, Aware Recovery Care
Member, VASAM Advocacy Committee
Member, Medical Society of Virginia
Dear Delegate Wachsmann and Health and Human Services Committe members, I hope this message finds you well. My name is Dr. Lauren Grawert, and I am an addiction psychiatrist practicing in Northern Virginia in the Arlington Virginia area. I am also a member of the Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine (VASAM) Advocacy Committee and the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV). I am writing to introduce myself and to express VASAM's strong support for HB 712. As an addiction psychiatrist who provides office-based buprenorphine treatment daily, I greatly appreciate the bill’s clarification that a patient’s refusal of counseling should not, in itself, preclude access to medication treatment for opioid use disorder. While therapy is an important component of addiction care, in practice, rigid counseling requirements can unintentionally create barriers to care for some of our most vulnerable patients, and HB 712 reflects a thoughtful, evidence-based approach to improving access to life-saving medication while preserving clinical judgment. Of note, VASAM submitted a formal request to the Virginia Board of Medicine last fall also asking that the counseling requirement be removed. The Board of Medicine responded that it would defer to the state legislation (you) to make this change if warranted. During the public comment period, our request received a total of 172 public comments from Virginians all over the state which were all in staunch support of this change. There were no comments that were against the requested update. Thank you for your leadership on this important issue. HB172 would go a long way in helping Virginia addiction treatment specialists like myself save more lives and combat the opioid epidemic. Warm regards, Lauren Grawert, MD Addiction Psychiatrist Chief Medical Officer, Aware Recovery Care Member, VASAM Advocacy Committee Member, Medical Society of Virginia