Former White House Deputy Drug Czar Andrea G. Barthwell, M.D. Joins AZZLY® as Senior Advisor and Strategist
Former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Honorable Andrea Barthwell, M.D., DFASAM, has joined AZZLY®, Inc., as Senior Advisor and Strategist. Dr. Barthwell brings with her decades of experience in and dedication to the field of addiction medicine.
ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Honorable Andrea G. Barthwell, M.D., DFASAM, joins AZZLY, Inc., as Senior Advisor and Strategist. Dr. Barthwell brings decades of experience and dedication to addiction medicine to enable AZZLY to better serve addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare providers. These dedicated professionals address this underserved area of healthcare worsened by COVID-19 that is replete with opioid overdoses and health disparities.
"We are excited to have the support and idea generation of Dr. Barthwell whose innovations have included holistic care of substance use disorders with attention to circadian rhythms to support sleep hygiene, exercise and movement to prevent the development of pain syndromes, and a recovery focused diet to support neurotransmitter regeneration during the early phases of treatment," shared Coletta Dorado, CEO and Founder of AZZLY. "I have interacted with Dr. Barthwell for decades and I am excited to share her processes of assessment, treatment, and documentation with addiction treatment providers and systems so that they are supported in their work meeting new public health challenges that social distancing in response to COVID-19 have created. Our comprehensive disease management technology enables our customers to document adherence to ever-changing industry and professional standards; Dr. Barthwell is keenly aware of the work required. It is an honor to have her on our team."
Dr. Barthwell's career has been as diverse and successful as the patients she advocates for and treats; it reflects her steadfast commitment to merging scientific inquiry with the human side of addiction. As the principal advisor in the Executive Office of the President under George W. Bush, she developed and described policies aimed at reducing the demand for illicit drugs. During her tenure, Barthwell advocated for the President's Treatment Initiative, an $1.8 billion increase in funding for treatment; he expanded access to Screening, Brief Interventions, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) which places addiction medicine at the center of health care; brought focus to a need to double the Federal budget for drug courts which is the marriage of public health and public safety; and opened the conversation on the need for equality and justice in policy by speaking about the disparity in sentencing between "crack" and powder cocaine. Widely published, Barthwell has provided care in public housing units, served on national advisory boards (i.e., Food and Drug Administration's Drug Abuse Advisory Committee), and was the founding Board President of the Foundation for Opioid Response Effort (FORE), a $100 million foundation endowed by McKesson to address the Opioid Crisis which has approved grants from across the country addressing access, recovery advocates, and needs arising from challenges attributable to COVID-19."I am excited to expand my reach into physician offices and substance use disorder programs and help individuals and organizations express their creativity, expand their care delivery, and document their work, with an ease that can only be achieved with a well-designed disease management tool using the latest technology,| said Barthwell. "The goal is to automate systems and eliminate ambiguity in treatment documentation to achieve maximal impact of services for recovery; gain reimbursement; and put the provider in a place to enforce Federal Parity Legislation.
"Barthwell's current passions include crowd-sourcing COVID-19 testing laboratories to match unmet need with unused capacity; educating providers on the value of Computer Assisted Treatment (CAT) to enable the use of Prescription Digital Therapeutics (PDT) which close the gap created by growing social isolation due to COVID-19; modifying the monitoring of the supply chain to reduce diversion of prescription drugs from commercial channels and enabling daily "Take Back" days; and helping to get a low-cost, over-the-counter (OTC) product on the market to address out of control opioid overdose death rates. Dr. Barthwell's experiences in research and medical practice makes her a vital resource to AZZLY in providing their top of the line integrated solution for providers. Together they are fervent about helping treatment centers achieve better outcomes and provide necessary addiction treatment services to patients.
About AZZLY: AZZLY is a leading provider of specialty-specific software, AZZLY Rize, a modern cloud platform that is the foundation for treatment centers' clinical, business and compliance requirements. AZZLY Rize encompasses a comprehensive electronic health record (EHR), revenue cycle management (RCM), and patient management (PM) in one seamless platform. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in central Florida, their solution is designed to assist healthcare providers integrate technology in their practice. Visit azzly.com or call 1 (888) 400-3201 for more information on AZZLY.
Media Contact
Coletta Dorado, AZZLY, Inc., 1 (888) 400-3201, [email protected]
SOURCE AZZLY, Inc.
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