PCSS Webinars

The Providers Clinical Support System (PCSS) is comprised of a coalition of major healthcare organizations dedicated to addressing the opioid overdose crisis. PCSS's mission is to increase healthcare providers' knowledge and skills in the prevention, identification and treatment of substance use disorders with a focus on opioid use disorders.

As a PCSS partner, APA offers webinars presented by nationally recognized clinical experts, researchers and government officials so clinicians have access to the latest evidence-based practices for effective treatment options for their patients.

Archived versions of the recorded webinars are made available with or without CME credit through the APA Learning Center. CME is offered free of charge. View the list of available archived webinars below.

The available archived webinars are displayed below by year of presentation.

• 2019

  Vaccines for Opioid Use Disorder: Focusing on the Fentanyl Epidemic

  Fentanyl has been the leading cause of opioid overdoses during the last couple of years, and these overdoses are not prevented by methdone, buprenorphine or naltrexone treatment. A vaccine against fentanyl has been able to block fentanyl's analgesic, reinforcing respiratory effects in animal models, and is moving forward FDA approval to be tested in humans. This webinar will discuss the mechanism of acting for fentanyl vaccines in preventing overdoses and abuse through the production of anti-fentanyl antibodies.

  • May 28, 2019
  • Thomas Kosten, M.D. & Fang Yang, M.D.

  The Clinical and Public Health Utility of Mutual Aid Organizations in Addressing Addiction: What Does the Science Tell Us?

  This activity will present results from comprehensive, gold-standard, reviews of the scientific clinical literature, investigate the health care cost savings obtainable by implementing mutual-aid facilitation approaches in clinical settings, and discuss the implications for clinical practice, addiction treatment and public health broadly.

  • April 23, 2019
  • John F. Kelly, Ph.D.

  Tracking Drug Use Patterns

  This presentation will enable participants to better identify drug use patterns across the United States and subsequent treatment responses to some of these emerging drug trends. They will additionally identify more efficacious responses for these trends and for drugs that are often understudied.

  • March 26, 2019
  • Jane C. Maxwell, Ph.D.

  Rethinking Withdrawal Management: Expanding the Use of Outpatient Settings

  This presentation will challenge participants to rethink outpatient withdrawal management. An outpatient setting for the treatment of withdrawal symptoms is safe and effective for most patients with substance use disorders. The chief advantage over treatment in an inpatient setting is higher likelihood of patient participation in meaningful follow up treatment. This presentation will highlight hybrid protocols frequent withdrawal concerns, thus arming psychiatrists and allied health professionals with effective, evidence based information to treat patients with substance use disorder in outpatient settings.

  • February 26, 2019
  • George Kolodner, M.D.

  Telepsychiatry's Role in Medication Assisted Treatment

  This webinar will explore how telepsychiatry can play a critical role in addressing the shortage of psychiatrists available to provide treatment for patients with opioid use disorders. Participants will learn from one of the experts in the field, Dr. Hector Colon-Rivera, regarding how telepsychiatry is being used to address unmet needs in underserved communities. The history of telepsychiatry, state laws, and standards and guidelines will be covered to enhance your understanding of foundational issues to implementing telepsychiatry in your community. Learning more about telepsychiatry could help vastly improve the treatment options for those who have limited access to care. Bridging the gaps in care for patients with opioid use disorders is another step to address the epidemic that is currently plaguing our nation.

  • January 29, 2019
  • Hector Colon-Rivera, M.D.
• 2018

  Medication Assisted Treatment in the Emergency Room Setting

  Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a rapidly growing and increasingly deadly national health crisis. Evidence is consistently pointing to the use of medication assisted treatment (MAT) as a critical element to a comprehensive treatment approach. VA Connecticut began an initiative to increase access to MAT for veterans by initiating MAT in the emergency room setting. This presentation will begin by setting the stage of OUD and will then review the methods and approach for the initiation of MAT in the ER setting. Finally, case examples will be reviewed to demonstrate the approach.

  • December 18, 2018
  • Brian Fuehrlein, M.D.

  Recovery Support for Young People with Opioid Use Disorders

  This presentation will review recovery supports in addition to medication that can be considered as part of the treatment plan for a young people with an opioid use disorder. These treatment components include: family involvement, school-based recovery programs, and mutual help groups.

  • November 27, 2018
  • Amy Yule, M.D.

  Innovative Methods for Addressing Substance Use in Pregnancy

  This webinar will summarize the prevalence of prenatal substance use, potential adverse impacts on outcome and identify two new efforts to improve identification and modification of prenatal substance use.

  • October 23, 2018
  • Grace Chang, M.D., M.P.H.

  Motivational Interviewing: Brushing up on the Basics

  This webinar reviews the basic concepts and skills of Motivational Interviewing (MI) and employs MI skills and tools to illustrate the practical applicability of such tools in clinical practice for addiction and other patient populations.

  • September 25, 2018
  • Carla Marienfeld, M.D.

  Expanding Access to Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders to Patients in the Hospital

  This presentation provides an overview of the opioid epidemic and the laws and regulations that dictate how medication assisted treatment can be used in the treatment of OUD, and discusses the exceptions to regulations that allow providers to use medication to treat OUD in patients seen in the emergency department or admitted to the hospital.

  • August 28, 2018
  • Christopher Welsh, M.D.

  Main Results and Clinical Implications of the X:BOT Trial: XR-Naltrexone vs. Buprenorphine-Naloxone Film

  This webinar examines the largest evaluation to date of extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) opioid treatment compared to buprenorphine maintenance, and discusses the relevance of the data to clinical practice.

  • July 31, 2018
  • Joshua D. Lee, M.D.

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  The Role of Behavioral Interventions in Buprenorphine Maintenance Treatment

  This webinar reviews the literature on the role, nature and intensity of behavioral interventions in office-based buprenorphine treatment for patients with opioid use disorders.

  • February 20, 2018
  • Roger D. Weiss, M.D.

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• 2017

  PTSD, Chronic Pain, and Opioid Use Disorder: A Case Discussion

  The following case-based webinar will discuss the challenges in treating this population while describing approaches which may help providers improve the care of these patients.

  • August 22, 2017
  • Jonathan Buchholz, M.D.

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  Challenges and Opportunities in Chronic Pain Management During Transitions in Care

  Using a case study the purpose of this presentation is to discuss the challenges and opportunities a new provider faces in assuming the care of someone with chronic, non-malignant pain particularly as it relates to concerns about the use of opioids and the presence of opioid use disorder.

  • July 19, 2017
  • Adam Gordon, M.D., M.P.H.; Timothy Sowicz, Ph.D.

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  Managing Active Injection Opioid Use: Severe Depression and Acute Pain

  This case discussion reviews several options for managing pain in patients with active opioid use disorder on the inpatient medical service. The case provides discussion of the issues that the healthcare team faces when treating patients with depression and chronic suicidality and provides expert opinion on managing these psychiatric comorbidities in a patient with comorbid substance use disorder.

  • June 28, 2017
  • Jessica Gray, M.D.; Daniel Alford, M.D., M.P.H.; John A. Renner, Jr., M.D.

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  Tobacco and the Emergence of E-Cigarettes: Addressing Unmet Needs in Mental Health

  This webinar summarizes tobacco use among those with mental illness, discusses e-cigarettes, and summarizes the most recent recommendations on risks/safety.

  • June 21, 2017
  • Smita Das, M.D., Ph.D.

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  Motivational Interviewing for Clinical Practice

  The webinar will provide a clear presentation of Motivational Interviewing that is readily transferable to everyday clinical practice.

  • May 9, 2017
  • Petros Levounis, M.D., M.A.; Carla Marienfeld, M.D.; Bachaar Arnaout, M.D.

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  The Seeking Safety Model: Empirical and Clinical Developments

  Seeking Safety is an evidence-based counseling model designed for trauma and/or addiction. This presentation will describe the model briefly, and offer a summary of new findings and clinical expansions.

  • April 24, 2017
  • Lisa Najavits, Ph.D.

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  Treating Substance Use Disorder Through Collaborative Care

  Collaborative care is an evidence-based model of integrated mental health in primary care settings that shows clear and significant effectiveness for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Widespread implementation of Collaborative Care is now occurring across the country to answer the need for increased access for mental health treatment. Concurrently, there is a growing need for the treatment of substance use disorders, which often present in the primary care setting where they have traditionally been inadequately addressed.

  • April 4, 2017
  • Mark Duncan, M.D.

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  Fentanyl and Its Chemical Cousins: Abuse Patterns, Surveillance, and Treatment

  This presentation has three parts:

  1. Review the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of fentanyl and chemically related short-acting opioids, the approved medical uses of these agents, and their clinical pharmacology;
  2. Review trends in fentanyl and congener abuse and recent available epidemiological data concerning overdoses and deaths from these agents;
  3. Discuss practice-relevant issues including surveillance/detection, and treatment options including distribution/use of antagonists for overdose reversal, client education, and medication-assisted treatment.

  • March 7, 2017
  • Mark K. Greenwald, Ph.D.

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• 2016

  National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium Efforts to Enhance Pain Treatment

  This PCSS-O session will outline efforts of the NIH Pain Consortium to improve pain treatment and reduce prescription opioid abuse. These efforts include partnering with the CDC in its creation of national opioid prescribing guidelines, development of a National Pain Strategy, leading a comprehensive review on opioids for the treatment of chronic pain through the NIH Pathways to Prevention program, and improving clinical pain education through its Centers of Excellence in Pain Education.

  • November 16, 2016
  • David A. Thomas, Ph.D.

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  Understanding The New Federal Regulation To Increase Buprenorphine Patient Limits

  Federal regulations recently made a significant change to the number of patients qualified buprenorphine prescribers can treat. Now what?

  Whether you have already received a waiver to prescribe to 100 patients, or you are just getting started in the process of obtaining a waiver to prescribe, you need to know how to navigate this exciting development.

  • November 8, 2016
  • Jinhee Lee, PharmD

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  Using the ECHO Model to Expand Access to Treatment of Substance Use Disorders

  This presentation will describe the ECHO experience with SUDs and the recent replication of teleECHO programs for SUDs in several states and countries. It will describe the steps involved in launching an ECHO program to expand access to SUD treatment.

  • July 12, 2016
  • Miriam Komaromy, M.D., FACP, FASAM

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  Addiction, Overdose, and Suicide: Preventing Deaths From Drug Self-Intoxication

  This webinar will review the proposed death sub-category, “death from drug self-intoxication,” as a surveillance strategy for improving accurate detection of a preventable death. Clinical translations of this concept, including empirical opportunities to elicit self-harm/suicide risk and to intervene with patients and families seeking treatment in a variety of clinical practice settings, will be presented.

  • June 21, 2016
  • Ian Rockett, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Hilary Connery, M.D., Ph.D.

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  Improving MAT Access and Quality through Collaborative Care: The CoOP Model

  This session will describe a model of care, “Collaborative Opioid Prescribing (CoOP),” that links opioid treatment programs (OTPs) expertise with office-based buprenorphine (OBB) prescribers.

  • June 14, 2016
  • Kenneth B. Stoller, M.D.

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  Beyond Symptom Management: Mindfulness for Chronic Pain

  This webinar will introduce a step-by-step, mind-body approach that integrates advances in rehabilitation medicine with psychodynamic, behavioral, and mindfulness-based techniques.

  • June 1, 2016
  • Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D

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  Evidence-Based Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder

  This session will discuss the evidence showing that addiction produces changes in the brain; summarize NIH-funded research on medication assisted treatment; Review the FDA-approved medications for alcoholism as well as the cost benefits; Discuss some of the reasons given for non-prescription of relapse prevention medication and compare health benefits to other treatments.

  • May 10, 2016
  • Charles O’Brien, M.D.

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  Treatment of Prescription Opioid Dependence: Long-Term Outcomes

  The session will review the first long-term follow up of medication-assisted treatment of patients addicted to prescription pain medication.

  • April 26, 2016
  • Roger D. Weiss, M.D.

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  Incorporating Evidence-Based Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders into Practice

  This session will provide an overview of the evidence supporting the VA-Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline for Management of Substance Use Disorders and specific recommendations relevant to opioid use disorder care. Discussion will focus on anticipating barriers to evidence-based treatment of OUD.

  • April 12, 2016
  • Karen Drexler, M.D.

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  Medication Assisted Treatment In The Criminal Justice System

  This webinar will describe recent trends in CJS populations and intersections with the US opioid epidemic, detail clinical trials examining the application of MAT in CJS populations, and give context to recent and proposed policies impacting CJS and opioid use disorders.

  • March 8, 2016
  • Joshua D. Lee, M.D., M.Sc.

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• 2015

  Enhancing Clinical Treatment Through Use of Prescription Monitoring Programs

  This webinar will detail Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) and show how they can be most effective.

  • December 8, 2015
  • Patrick Knue

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  Opioid Use Disorder in a Psychiatric Emergency Room Setting

  An emergency room assessment involves appropriately triaging the patient to the appropriate level of care. The VA Connecticut Healthcare System offers a variety of levels of care and is used to demonstrate examples. Patients are often deemed appropriate for initiation of buprenorphine in the emergency setting.

  • November 17, 2015
  • Brian Fuehrlein, M.D., Ph.D

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  Treating Co-Occurring Depression and Opioid Use Disorder: A Case Discussion

  Models to provide integrated care for opioid use disorder and depression will be discussed.

  • October 27, 2015
  • Hilary Smith Connery, M.D., Ph.D.

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