Gordon Op-Ed: CT can be a national leader in evidence-based healthcare innovation

Originally published by the Hartford Courant on July 5, 2026, this commentary by AACPN Director of Healthcare Policy & External Affairs John R. Gordon examines Connecticut's Public Act 26-108, a recently enacted law that expands and strengthens the state's psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program. It considers how the legislation could influence the future of evidence-based healthcare innovation, patient access, and public policy.

Connecticut has taken an important step toward expanding research into emerging mental health treatments. While much of the attention has focused on psychedelic-assisted therapy, the larger question is how Connecticut should evaluate promising new treatments as scientific evidence evolves.

At its core, Public Act 26-108 invites a broader discussion: How should policymakers evaluate promising healthcare treatments that remain outside the traditional healthcare mainstream? Connecticut’s bipartisan support for the legislation reflects a growing recognition that questions surrounding trauma, mental health, chronic pain and emerging treatment options are best addressed through scientific inquiry and evidence-based policymaking.

Veterans are frequently at the center of these discussions. Military service can leave lasting physical and psychological wounds, and many veterans spend years searching for treatments that help them manage post-traumatic stress, chronic pain, depression and other service-connected conditions.

First responders routinely encounter situations that most Americans will never experience. Firefighters, police officers, paramedics and emergency medical personnel are repeatedly exposed to crisis, tragedy and human suffering. The cumulative effects of those experiences can follow them long after the emergency has ended.

Trauma survivors face many of the same challenges. Whether resulting from violence, sexual assault, childhood abuse, serious accidents or other life-altering experiences, trauma often leaves individuals searching for effective paths toward recovery.

Across Connecticut, families coping with PTSD, chronic pain, depression and treatment-resistant mental health conditions are looking for therapies that offer hope when conventional approaches have fallen short.

These realities are familiar to healthcare professionals working in hospitals, clinics and behavioral health practices throughout Connecticut. Physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors, therapists and social workers confront these challenges every day as they care for patients whose conditions do not respond predictably to conventional treatment pathways. They witness barriers to effective care and often serve as the bridge between healthcare systems, patients and families.

Healthcare professionals also experience their own forms of trauma and chronic stress. Repeated exposure to illness, grief, crisis, loss and human suffering takes a significant toll on those responsible for caring for others.

What connects veterans, first responders, trauma survivors, social workers, and healthcare professionals is the shared search for better outcomes. These communities understand that healthcare must continue to evolve as science advances.

For policymakers, the question is not whether a treatment is familiar, unconventional, traditional or new. It is how to build healthcare systems that integrate treatments already supported by credible evidence while creating clear pathways for future therapies to be scientifically evaluated and, when supported by scientific evidence, responsibly incorporated into patient care.

This is precisely why Connecticut’s expanded research into psychedelic-assisted therapies is important. Public Act 26-108 reflects a willingness by lawmakers from both parties to evaluate promising treatments through research rather than assumption. That approach can help healthcare systems adopt new evidence-based treatment options while avoiding unnecessary barriers to innovation.

Not every emerging treatment will prove successful. Not every promising study will withstand larger clinical trials. That is why continued research is so important. Good policy should neither embrace new therapies uncritically nor dismiss them prematurely. It should facilitate scientific inquiry, incorporate emerging evidence and follow the conclusions that research ultimately supports.

That principle extends well beyond psychedelic-assisted therapy research. Numerous healthcare innovations, integrative therapies and emerging treatments are currently being studied across the country. Some will ultimately demonstrate meaningful patient benefit. Others will not. The role of policymakers is to ensure that healthcare systems remain capable of evaluating and responding to that evidence as it develops.

Ultimately, Connecticut’s new law should be viewed not as the end of a conversation but as the beginning of a broader discussion about how healthcare systems evaluate, research and provide access to promising treatments.

Connecticut has an opportunity to become a leader in evidence-based healthcare innovation—not by embracing every new therapy, but by ensuring that promising treatments receive rigorous scientific evaluation and that patients ultimately benefit from wherever the evidence leads.

Connecticut and America deserve healthcare systems that facilitate scientific research, incorporate emerging evidence and integrate the treatment options that rigorous study ultimately demonstrates to be safe and effective.