Joshua Rivera

An Explanation of Benefits is a health-plan statement showing how an addiction-treatment claim was processed, including billed charges, allowed amount, insurer payment, and patient responsibility. It is not a bill.

An ERISA health plan is generally an employer-sponsored benefit plan governed by federal ERISA rules. ERISA can affect rehab claims, appeals, plan-document rights, and which agency regulates a coverage dispute.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires many health plans that cover mental health and substance use disorder care to apply financial requirements and treatment limitations no more restrictively than comparable medical and surgical benefits.

Harm reduction uses practical, evidence-informed strategies to reduce overdose, infection, and other harms while keeping people connected to health care and creating pathways into addiction treatment when they are ready.

Fentanyl test strips are drug-checking tools that can detect fentanyl in many drug samples. They can reduce uncertainty but cannot tell how much fentanyl is present or guarantee that a sample is safe.

There are currently no FDA-approved medications specifically for methamphetamine use disorder. Behavioral treatments such as contingency management have the strongest established evidence.

Stimulant use disorder is a diagnosable pattern of cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription stimulant, or other stimulant use that causes significant impairment or distress.

Phenobarbital is a long-acting barbiturate that can be used by experienced clinicians to manage alcohol withdrawal in selected patients, especially when benzodiazepines are unsuitable or withdrawal is difficult to control.

Benzodiazepine withdrawal can occur after physical dependence develops. Abrupt discontinuation can cause severe symptoms, including seizures and delirium, so gradual medically supervised tapering may be necessary.

Disulfiram is an FDA-approved medication for alcohol use disorder that causes an unpleasant reaction if alcohol is consumed, helping support abstinence in appropriately selected patients.