Virginia Law

A. Medically managed intensive inpatient services (ASAM Level 4.0) settings for services. Acute care hospitals licensed by the Virginia Department of Health shall be the designated setting for medically managed intensive inpatient treatment and shall offer medically directed acute withdrawal management and related treatment designed to alleviate acute emotional, behavioral, cognitive, or biomedical distress resulting from, or occurring with, an individual's use of alcohol and other drugs. Such service settings shall offer medically directed acute withdrawal management and related treatment designed to alleviate acute emotional, behavioral, cognitive, or biomedical distress, or all of these, resulting from, or co-occurring with, an individual's use of alcohol or other drugs, with the exception of tobacco-related disorders, caffeine-related disorders or dependence or non-substance-related disorders.

B. Medically managed intensive inpatient services (ASAM Level 4.0) service components.

1. The service components of medically managed intensive inpatient services shall be:

a. An evaluation or analysis of substance use disorders shall be provided, including the diagnosis of substance use disorders and the assessment of treatment needs for medically necessary services.

b. Observation and monitoring the individual's course of withdrawal shall be provided. This shall be conducted as frequently as deemed appropriate for the individual and the level of care the individual is receiving. This may include, for example, observation of the individual's health status.

c. Medication services, including the prescription or administration related to substance use disorder treatment services or the assessment of the side effects or results of that medication, conducted by appropriate licensed staff who provide such services within their scope of practice or license.

2. The following therapies shall be provided for reimbursement:

a. Daily clinical services provided by an interdisciplinary team to stabilize acute addictive or psychiatric symptoms. Activities shall include pharmacological, cognitive-behavioral, and other psychotherapies or substance use disorder counseling administered on an individual or group basis and modified to meet the individual's level of understanding. For individuals with a severe biomedical disorder, physical health interventions are available to supplement addiction treatment. For the individual who has less stable psychiatric symptoms, ASAM Level 4.0 co-occurring capable programs offer individualized treatment activities designed to monitor the individual's mental health and to address the interaction of the mental health programs and substance use disorders.

b. Health education services.

c. Planned clinical interventions that are designed to enhance the individual's understanding and acceptance of illness of addiction and the recovery process.

d. Services for the individual's family, guardian, or significant other, as appropriate, to advance the individual's treatment and recovery goals and objectives identified in the ISP.

e. This level of care offers 24-hour nursing care and daily physician care for severe, unstable problems in any of the following ASAM dimensions: (i) acute intoxication or withdrawal potential; (ii) biomedical conditions and complications; and (iii) emotional, behavioral, or cognitive conditions and complications.

f. Discharge services shall be the process to prepare the individual for referral into another level of care, post treatment return or reentry into the community, or the linkage of the individual to essential community treatment, housing, recovery, and human services.

C. Medically managed intensive inpatient services (ASAM Level 4.0) staff requirements.

1. An interdisciplinary staff of appropriately credentialed clinical staff including, for example, addiction-credentialed physicians or physicians with experience in addiction medicine, licensed nurse practitioners, licensed physician assistants, registered nurses, licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical psychologists, or licensed clinical social workers who assess and treat individuals with severe substance use disorders or addicted individuals with concomitant acute biomedical, emotional, or behavioral disorders. Physicians and physician extenders who have a current DEA registration authorizing the prescribing of scheduled drugs, including Schedule III drugs, and who are either employed by or contracted through the agency or through referral arrangements with the agency.

2. Medical management by physicians and primary nursing care shall be available 24 hours per day and counseling services shall be available 16 hours per day.

D. Medically managed intensive inpatient services (ASAM Level 4.0) co-occurring enhanced programs. These programs shall be provided by appropriately licensed or registered credentialed mental health professionals who assess and treat the individual's co-occurring mental illness and are knowledgeable about the biological and psychosocial dimensions of psychiatric disorders and his treatment.