Confirmation Hearing Held for Elinore McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D., Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions yesterday heard testimony from five nominees for top federal positions, including APA-endorsed nominees Elinore McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D. (pictured with APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.), nominated to be the first Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, and Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H., nominated for Surgeon General.

McCance-Katz, a psychiatrist who has experience working on mental health and substance use disorders in both academic settings and the public sector, told the committee her priorities at SAMHSA would be addressing the opioid crisis and the needs of the seriously mentally ill.

“Our nation is afflicted by a crisis of opioid addiction, overdose, and death,” she said. “[I]nnovative approaches to health care practitioner training should address effective pain management, identification and treatment of substance use disorders, as well as frequently co-occurring mental disorders. … Evidence-based medication-assisted treatment, peer specialists, and a growing array of community supports are essential underpinnings of recovery and form the basis of a collaborative care model that can best serve Americans.”

She added, “For too long, the care and treatment needs of the most seriously mentally ill Americans have been neglected. … We must focus on evidence-based services including psychiatric care, medication, and psychotherapy treatments, in collaboration with peer support and other community-based services designed to provide the resources needed to assure the best possible outcomes.”

Adams testified that as Surgeon General he would emphasize prevention and efforts to promote health and prevent illness at the community level. “I also would make wellness and community and employer engagement a centerpiece of my agenda, if confirmed,” he said. “We will not successfully tackle the opioid epidemic, or obesity, or health care access and cost if we continue to focus on how we handle these problems after they’ve taken hold. Much of our national focus is on providing care after a person has already developed a disease, but far too often this represents multiple missed—and more cost effective—opportunities to have mitigated or even prevented the problem.”

The hearings yesterday also included testimony from Lance Robertson, nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Aging, Brett Grior, M.D., nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Health, and Robert Kadlec, M.D., nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.