One of 19 Organizations Selected Nationwide

The Foundation for Healthy Communities was recently awarded more than $586,000 in grant funding from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) to enhance access to treatment for those with an opioid use disorder in an inpatient hospital setting.

A private, national organization focused on contributing sustainable and scalable solutions to the opioid crisis, FORE awarded $10.1 million in grants to 19 organizations across the country, supporting projects that address access to opioid use disorder treatment and services in urban, rural, minority, tribal, and low-income communities.   Recognizing the urgency of the crisis, FORE wanted to inspire and accelerate action toward ending the overdose epidemic by convening and supporting stakeholders advancing patient-centered, evidence-based solutions to opioid use disorder and overdose.

The FORE grant will help support New Hampshire hospitals in the development and implementation of strategies to care for patients with an Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in the acute care setting, and as evidence-based solutions to the crisis, are designed to adopted and sustained as best practices.

“We’re extremely honored to have been selected by FORE to be a part of this program and among such distinguished colleagues who are working to address the opioid crisis,” stated FHC Executive Director Peter Ames.  “This award is a testament to our current work in implementing solutions to the opioid crisis, and we’re excited to strengthen those efforts with our hospital partners in the inpatient setting.”

The FORE grant will address existing gaps in addiction treatment in New Hampshire for hospital inpatient populations, while engaging this vulnerable population in identifying and testing solution strategies. The project will be implemented through the Experience Based Co-Design (EBCD) model, an approach that includes participation from all stakeholders, including patients, and will provide innovative methods and strategies to further access to lifesaving treatment for OUD patients.

A survey conducted by the Foundation for Healthy Communities in August 2019 revealed that only 9 of the 26 acute care hospitals in the state are currently providing OUD medications for addiction treatment in the inpatient setting. Anecdotal reports from hospitals in NH suggest that OUD affected patients in inpatient settings are more likely to leave the hospital against medical advice, inappropriately receive pain medications, experience disruptions in their established care, or whose recovery from the admission illness or injury was impaired by unidentified or unmanaged OUD.

Karen Scott, M.D., M.P.H., President of FORE, said, “Our objective is to identify and fund patient-centered, innovative, and evidence-based projects that will expand learning and offer solutions. These initial 19 grantees meet that objective. They are strong examples of piloting or expanding innovative approaches for improving access to treatment for populations at high risk of overdose.”

In response to its first request for proposals, FORE received responses from 443 organizations from 46 states. The 19 projects were selected after rigorous review by a panel of 50 independent experts from across the country. They include several projects that are developing or expanding models to better deliver treatment services to adults, adolescents, pregnant or parenting women, justice-involved persons, and uninsured populations. Other funded projects are addressing payment and regulatory policies to increase access to treatment or provide telehealth, mobile, and rural hospital services. In addition, a consortium of leading national organizations is receiving funding for initiatives to improve care delivery in emergency departments across the country.

“FORE is committed to determining what works, where it works, and why so that best practices can be disseminated and sustained,” Dr. Scott added.

The 19 grantees with their project service areas and titles are:

NATIONAL INITIATIVES

National Emergency Medicine Consortium

These three organizations are leaders in improving care of patients with opioid use disorder in the emergency department and will work collaboratively to further advance that work across the country.

• American College of Emergency Physicians/Emergency Medicine Foundation: Meeting Patients at the Front Door—Initiating Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery in Our Nation’s Emergency Department

• Massachusetts General Hospital: ‘Get Waivered’ National: Increasing the number of emergency department physicians able to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder

• Public Health Institute (National and California): California Bridge: Emergency Department Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Initiative

National Academy for State Health Policy:  State Policy Center for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Access

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey:  Integrating Medications for Opioid Use Disorder into Primary Care:  Innovative Payer and Provider Strategies for Improving Treatment, Engagement, Retention, Outcomes, and Disparities

Urban Institute:  Improving Access to the Continuum of Care for Opioid Use Disorder for Low-Income Adolescents and Young Adults

STATE AND LOCAL INITIATIVES

Alabama

• University of Alabama at Birmingham:  Strategic Plans to Combat Opioid Use Disorder in the State of Alabama 

Alaska

• Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium:  Opioid Use Recovery, Honoring & Empowering Local Providers (OUR HELP)

Illinois

• Illinois Association of Free & Charitable Clinics:  Illinois Free and Charitable Clinics Response to Opioid Use Disorder 

Maryland and Michigan

• Michigan State University:  Training Peer Recovery Coaches to Promote Retention and Adherence to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Among Low-Income Adults
• University of Maryland:  Treatment with Buprenorphine through Telemedicine in a Rural Criminal Justice Setting

New Hampshire

• Foundation for Healthy Communities:  Improving Hospital Inpatient Management of Opioid Use Disorders in Rural Communities

New York

• Housing Works (New York City):  Scaling up a Toolkit to Improve Retention and Adherence in Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

North Carolina

• Mountain Area Health Education Center: Building Access to Care Through Community Health Centers to Treat Opioid Use Disorder/Establishment of North Carolina Regional Addiction Medicine Programs
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Horizons Program:  Jenna’s Project: Supporting Women’s Re-entry to Society from Prison and Re-connection with Children

North Dakota

• University of North Dakota: Don’t Quit the Quit: Treatment Services and Culturally-Responsive Community Support for Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder

Pennsylvania

• Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania):  Mobile Community-Based Engagement and Retention for Persons with Opioid Use Disorder
• Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia):  Lowering Barriers, Saving Lives, Reclaiming Health: Integrating Medications for Opioid Use Disorder

West Virginia

• Cabin Creek Health Systems:  Enhancing and Expanding Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Southern Appalachia Communities

About FORE

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) was founded in 2018 as a private 501(c)(3) national, grant-making foundation focused on addressing the nation’s opioid crisis. FORE is committed to funding a diversity of projects contributing solutions to the crisis at national, state, and community levels. FORE’s mission is to convene and support partners advancing patient-centered, innovative, evidence-based solutions impacting people experiencing opioid use disorder, their families, and their communities.

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