State officials have approved more than $13 million to fund startup and operation costs for 10 programs providing opioid treatment and services around the state, including at jails.
The funding is part of nearly $600 million that will be awarded to Oregon under settlements of national lawsuits that were filed against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies. While some state jail systems offer broad access to medication-assisted treatment methods considered effective, Oregon's prisons and jails often do not.
Earlier this month the state’s Opioid Settlement, Prevention, Treatment & Recovery Board approved the funds based on a recommendation from the state Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission. Among other things, the funding will help provide a state goal of providing prompt access to methadone, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder. Buprenorphine is increasingly being used to help treat people as well.
The goal is to fund seven units or programs in rural Oregon and three in the Portland Metro area, at an estimated startup cost of $1.3 million each. The units will be required to collaborate with local jails, community clinics and hospitals.
As much as $3.9 million would fund two opioid medication or treatment units in Clackamas County serving Oregon City and rural portions of the county, as well as another unit to focus on areas in Multnomah County with unmet needs.
Another roughly $9 million would fund opioid treatment or medication units around the state, including: two in Northeastern Oregon and one each in Klamath County, Lane County, the mid-Gorge region and coastal areas that are considered underserved.
In addition, Oregon Health & Science University will receive $250,000 to provide technical assistance to promote collaboration between county jails and providers of medication-assisted treatment services.
In a July 10 meeting of the treatment and recovery board, Dr Dan Hoover, an OHSU assistant professor who works on addiction medicine, noted that people leaving incarceration faced a high risk of fatal overdose in the first two weeks. Studies of jail medication-assisted treatment programs showed significant reductions in fatal overdoses as well as in recidivism.
A big part of the work envisioned will be jail visits, he said. “There’s culture change that we get to influence in jails through this and there’s of course a continual interchange of understanding that’s built.”
Hoover said the $250,000 will fund work at seven county jails over two years. It will be similar to work at jails in Eastern Oregon that's already under way funded by the area's regional coordinated care organization, which oversees Medicaid spending in the region.
