Statement of Carlos F. Tirado, MD,MPH, Chief Medical Officer, MAP Health Management and CARMAhealth On Wednesday, June 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022 (H.R.7666) with a strong bipartisan majority. CARMAHealth applauds the passage of the bill and its Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act [...]

CARMAhealth’s Founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carlos Tirado recently penned an insightful and relevant op-ed regarding the Texas Legislature’s failure to pass a “Good Samaritan Law”. These laws protect drug users from legal penalty in the event that they have to call and report a fellow user’s overdose. The piece highlights the glaring need [...]

Rampant and escalating fatality has steered the American addiction conversation toward opioids and kept it there; a completely understandable inclination given the universal and indiscriminate nature of opioid use disorder. Prescription drugs, heroin and fentanyl threaten every age group, class and cultural background, and it is unquestionably the most pervasive addiction threat in the country. [...]

In August of 2017, President Trump declared the United States opioid epidemic a national emergency, signaling that he would put considerable weight behind finding avenues to combat prescription painkiller addiction and subsequent fatality. That same year, over 70,000 Americans overdosed on drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone and especially fentanyl. Since the declaration, there has been relatively [...]

As CARMAhealth continues to observe Alcohol Awareness Month, we wanted to take the opportunity to touch not only on the causes, sustaining factors and impact of alcohol addiction, but also the pathways to treatment of which sufferers can avail themselves to get help and reclaim their lives. In recent years, pharmacological interventions have been an [...]

Last week CNN ran a piece that effectively encapsulated the glaring difference in access to behavioral health services among the haves and have-nots. Framed around pop singer Brittany Spears’ very public  mental breakdown and subsequent journey to treatment, the piece touched on the rampant and escalating mental health issues plaguing Americans of all economic backgrounds, [...]

April 1st marked the beginning of this year’s Alcohol Awareness Month, a 30-day effort founded and sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) to raise awareness toward alcoholism in the United States and reduce the stigma that prevents so many suffering from alcohol use disorder from getting the help they need. [...]

In a piece published in this month’s Texas Medicine Magazine, CARMAhealth’s Medical Director Dr. Steven Powell and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carlos Tirado discuss the importance of seamless and expedited medical care in addiction recovery. The article explores the importance and increasing clinical emphasis on providing accessibility of substance abuse-related healthcare during and after the [...]

It's the new year, and for many, a time to revisit goals and start new resolutions. Some resolutions are lofty, others are vague, but not all are easy to build into a habit. How many of your resolutions include incorporating more self-care in the upcoming year? Though it is not the most popular resolution, consider [...]

In our practice, we always try to meet the patient where they’re at: this is not a tired cliché for us…we really do. We have the challenge of dealing with young people in the prime of life were it not for a terrible IV heroin problem and a tendency to suddenly reject effective and perfectly [...]