​The ASAM Fundamentals of Addiction Medicine 40-Hour Program is an innovative educational program empowering primary care and other providers to identify, treat, and/or refer patients at risk for or with addiction. The curriculum is designed for healthcare professionals who received little addiction education during their medical training.​

ASAM began addressing the adversarial prior authorization process with managed care with the 1991 ASAM Criteria. After 20 years of research, ASAM has released CONTINUUM – The ASAM Criteria Decision Engine™ nationwide. This workshop will provide the practical exposure to help active clinicians and program administrators understand how to organize, introduce and use this new clinical standard for success. The workshop will review counselor and patient evaluations from the alpha, beta and national demonstration projects. Attendees will review evaluation findings, the Harvard Business School study, the national survey of state requirements, and undergo a tour of the tool. The workshop will explain how to use CONTINUUM to address the federal Parity Act and the summer 2015 federal Medicaid specifications for external third party review of all substance use disorder placements. Attendees will assess the software’s ease of use, learning curve, impact on clinical assessment and potential for managed care reform. The discussion will examine the practical issues of HIPAA and 42cfr data privacy and how these support the national patient data registry.