Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Ohio will receive $71.5 million over the next two years to combat the opioid epidemic as part of an ongoing federal grant program designed to increase drug treatment access and reduce opioid-related deaths (Source: “Opioid Crisis: $71.5M in Federal Funds Coming to Ohio,” Dayton Daily News, September 19, 2018).
Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has committed another $1 billion in grants to helping states carryout their opioid epidemic strategies, the department recently announced. In Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018, HHS awarded more than $1 billion in grants to states and territories through the State Targeted Opioid Response (STOR) Grants program. The legislative package recently passed by the Senate reauthorizes $500 million per year from the 21st Century Cures Act for the grants.
More than $55 million coming to Ohio will help to increase access to medication-assisted treatment using the three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Another nearly $16 million will enable 55 community health centers, academic institutions, and rural organizations in Ohio to expand access to integrated substance use disorder and mental health services.
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio recently launched the Addiction Evidence Project to provide policymakers and other stakeholders with the information they need to take stock of Ohio’s efforts to combat addiction, compare it to what the evidence says works best and determine where there are still gaps in the state’s response to the addiction crisis.
Perhaps with this funding we Docs in Ohio that have been prescribing methadone for pain can create a pilot so we can prescribe methadone for addiction in the comfort of a medical home to support the patient and family as we do for other chronic diseases. Would anyone else like to work on achieving a waiver to help improve access to MAT beyond the methadone clinic(non-profit and for-profit) model? Yes suboxone is available by certification. So should methadone be available, as well.
Our patients are counting on us to step up to help them succeed in the lifelong recovery.