At the 2021 ACAAM Annual Meeting, David Tracy, MD, presented "Nicotine Patch Prescription Fulfillment Rate for Emergency Department Patients" during the Fellows Lightning Round session. Dr. Tracy is a 2021 graduate of MetroHealth's addiction medicine fellowship program.

Dr. Tracy's presentation reviewed a study he conducted with Charles Emerman, MD, and Jon Siff, MD, that evaluated fill rates for prescription nicotine patches (NRT-P) from the Emergency Department. The study was conducted because prior work has demonstrated that many Emergency Department patients fail to fill their NRT-P prescriptions.

Jordana Laks, MD MPH, and Morgan Younkin, MD MPH, then-fellows from the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, presented "Outpatient Benzodiazepine Taper in a Low Barrier Setting" at the 2021 ACAAM Annual Meeting.

Drs. Laks and Younkin's presentation explored the development of an outpatient extended-duration benzodiazepine taper protocol for patients with benzodiazepine use disorder in a low barrier addiction treatment bridge clinic. The need for a benzodiazepine taper protocol was demonstrated by clinical experience with a small number of individualized benzodiazepine tapers in this setting as well as a literature review supporting the benefits of extended duration tapers. The developed protocol includes patient eligibility criteria, a standardized stabilization phase, taper duration of 4-6 weeks, and recommended monitoring.

Jeremiah Fairbanks, DO presented “Safe Station Initiative” during the June 2021 Annual Meeting’s Fellows Lightning Round session. Dr. Fairbanks is a graduate of the University of Minnesota's Addiction Medicine fellowship program.

Dr. Fairbanks' presentation explored the Safe Station initiative, which strives to provide culturally sensitive low threshold substance use disorder treatment in underserved and predominantly African American neighborhoods. The initiative connects first responders with community-based peer recovery services to provide immediate service to individuals seeking help for addiction and substance abuse.

With Addiction Medicine about to begin a new application season, some 180 fellowship representatives and potential candidates turned out to meet one another on May 11 for the second ACAAM virtual Addiction Medicine Recruitment Fair.

On hand were ACAAM President Jeanette Tetrault, MD, and ACAAM Vice President for Medical and Academic Affairs Timothy Brennan, MD, MPH, who gave an informative overview of addiction medicine training. Attendees were then free to network for the remainder of the event, with potential applicants visiting fellowships at individual virtual breakout “tables.”

At the 2021 ACAAM Annual Meeting held virtually, Claudia Moore, then a fellow at the University of Nebraska (and now faculty in the Addiction Medicine fellowship program), presented a case report titled, "PEth Testing and Liver Transplant Evaluations," which she created along with Alëna Balasanova, MD, and VaKara Meyer Karre, MD.

The case, which is still in progress, is of a critically ill adult man on the liver transplant list with a significantly elevated PEth and an adamant history, confirmed by family and consistent through his hospital stay, of only distant minimal alcohol use. Dr. Moore's presentation explored the background of the case, the patient's history, the results of laboratory testing, and the follow-up provided.

Brendan Sullivan, DO presented "Improving Rates of HIV/Hepatitis C Screening and Naloxone Co-prescription” during the June 2021 ACAAM Annual Meeting’s Fellows Lightning Round session. Dr. Sullivan is a 2021 graduate of the addiction medicine fellowship program at St. Joseph Mercy in Ann Arbor, MI.

Dr. Sullivan's presentation explored the second cycle of an ongoing quality improvement project conducted by St. Joseph Mercy's Addiction Medicine clinic to increase Hepatitis C/HIV screening and naloxone prescription rates. For this intervention, a medical assistant called the clinic's new patients and asked three screening questions for naloxone, Hepatitis C, and HIV. If the patient screens positive for any of the questions, the provider can then discuss screening with the patient and place the necessary orders. 

Addiction Medicine Advocacy Conference - March 7–8
ACAAM will once again serve as a national partner in the virtual 2022 Hill Day in conjunction with the Addiction Medicine Advocacy Conference on March 7-8.

FEBRUARY 2022 – After hearing from addiction medicine fellow members of ACAAM, the organization discovered the need to provide a safe space for the fellowship community to build their network, share solutions, and refresh their passion for addiction medicine.

To meet members’ needs, ACAAM hosted a unique, virtual networking event exclusively for addiction medicine fellows. This experience was held on an interactive platform that allowed fellows from all over the country to meet and connect with one another for the first time.

During the June 2021 Annual Meeting’s Fellows Lightning Round session, Marc Kimball, MD presented “Naloxone Co-Prescribing Across a Large Health System.” Dr. Kimball is a 2021 graduate of the addiction medicine fellowship program jointly run by Maine Medical Center and the US Veterans Affairs Health System.

Dr. Kimball’s presentation looked at the co-prescribing of naloxone across MaineHealth’s different sites and found that only about 6% of eligible patients had naloxone on their medication list. Using this information, the Naloxone Committee developed initiatives to help increase the number of patients being co-prescribed naloxone. Some of these initiatives included providing on-site naloxone training, developing online educational modules, and implementing a Best Practice Advisory (BPA).

ACAAM has an opportunity for members to share their interest in joining the organization’s Anti-Racism/Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for 2022.

This opportunity will allow you to work with several accomplished and returning committee members to develop, implement, integrate, and support strategies and activities to achieve priority goals related to anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion and to create an equitable and welcoming environment within ACAAM.

At its December 2021 meeting, the ACAAM Board of Directors honored outgoing Board members who have spent significant time and provided tremendous effort to ensure the organization has been successful over the last decade plus.

These Board members were devoted stewards of both the American Board of Addiction Medicine and the several iterations of the organization that is today known as ACAAM. Their dedication and wisdom will be missed, but will not be lost, as they will be regularly called upon for advice and involvement.

At its December meeting, ACAAM’s Board of Directors approved a slate of new officers for the organization, who officially take office on January 1, 2022, and serve in the roles through December 31, 2023.

The new officers include:

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) will be hosting the 2022 Addiction Medicine Advocacy Conference on March 7-8, 2022. This is a two-day virtual advocacy event. On the first day, attendees will receive training from expert advocacy professionals on issues important to the practice of addiction medicine and hear from key policymakers. Then, attendees will participate in carefully planned virtual Capitol Hill meetings to advance an ambitious policy agenda designed to support addiction treatment professionals as they treat patients and save lives.

ACAAM is honored to be a national advocacy partner for this Conference – along with the American College of Medical Toxicology, and the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine. We look forward to advancing addiction medicine together!

Even as the recruitment season for the 2022 academic year continues, Addiction Medicine fellowships are beginning to look toward the next application cycle. Two closely related themes top the agenda: getting the word out to potential candidates and improving the process for applicants and fellowships alike.

At the latest ACAAM Virtual Town Hall on November 18, program directors, faculty, and coordinators gathered to begin discussing next steps. The meeting came exactly one month after the offer period for 2022 positions opened for most fellowships participating in the Common Decision Date. The Common Date plan provided a 3-month window of “protected time” so applicants could fully explore their options and programs could complete interviews before offers started.

During the June 2021 Annual Meeting’s Fellows Lightning Round session, Shawn Cohen, MD, presented “Simplifying Buprenorphine Microinduction in the Outpatient Setting.” Dr. Cohen is a second-year fellow in the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine.

Dr. Cohen’s presentation defined microinduction, described how his team explains it to partners and patients, and provided a few resources that may be used to aid its explanation. These resources include a Tweetorial that can be found in the presentation slides.

In early November, ACAAM launched a brand-new member benefit—an online Career Center where employers can recruit qualified candidates and job seekers can find their next addiction medicine job opportunity!

For Employers
We encourage you to take advantage of this new member benefit and post your open positions on the ACAAM Career Center. If you are an ACAAM member, a posting for up to 90 days is only $100 (nonmembers pay $450). And for additional visibility, you can upgrade your posting to a featured listing for only $150 extra.

ACAAM recently had the pleasure of interviewing Sheila Specker, MD, one of the longest-tenured addiction medicine program directors in the country.

Dr. Specker is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota where she practices as an addiction psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. She is also the director of the University of Minnesota’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship, which trains physicians of all specialties in addiction and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Dr. Specker chaired the committee that wrote the program requirements in 2016–2017 that were ultimately adopted by ACGME.

When patients are treated appropriately by medical professionals trained in addiction medicine, we can save lives and improve treatment outcomes. With that goal in mind, National Addiction Treatment Week has been created to raise awareness about the critical gap between the number of patients who need addiction treatment and their access to qualified medical professionals trained to provide evidence-based, specialty treatment. It also highlights the urgent need for clinicians to enter the field of addiction medicine and expand the qualified workforce. We hope you will join the week and our efforts to close the treatment gap and save lives.

This year’s theme is focused on inspiring the next generation.

This year, Addiction Treatment Week will focus on encouraging the next generation of clinicians and providers to learn more about addiction, evidence-based treatment, and career paths in the field of addiction medicine. Physicians who are board-certified in addiction medicine and clinicians who treat addiction daily will share why they chose to treat addiction and inspire medical students, residents, and fellows to join them in learning more about evidence-based addiction treatment.

The first ACAAM Virtual Addiction Medicine Training Recruitment Fair was held September 14, with residents from around the country meeting addiction medicine fellowships and learning about the specialty from a panel of program directors.

Thirty-nine addiction medicine fellowships participated in the event, which featured virtual breakout “tables” where interested residents could visit with fellowships one-on-one.

During the 2021 ACAAM Annual Meeting, the organization’s Anti-Racism/Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee presented a session titled "Moving Beyond Kneeling: Promoting an Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Framework within Academic Addiction Medicine Fellowships."

During the session, the committee discussed the prevalence of microaggressions, and provided three tools that can be used to help combat them as they occur. These examples were related to specific scenarios discussed during the session, whose Powerpoint slides can be downloaded here for context.