SAMHSA Awards $123M to Combat Nation’s Opioid Overdose Epidemic

This week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded more than $123 million in funding through six grant programs to provide multifaceted support to communities and health care providers to combat the nation’s opioid overdose epidemic.

The funding will be allocated across the following grant programs:

• Medication Assisted Treatment for Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (MAT-PDOA) – This program expands and enhances communities’ access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services for people who have opioid use disorder (OUD). This five-year program seeks to increase the number of Americans receiving MAT and decrease their illicit opioid use and/or prescription misuse by their six-month follow-up visits. Awards totaling $71.3 million will be distributed to 127 grantees. Recipients of this funding include numerous health providers throughout the state of California.

• Tribal Opioid Response Grants (TOR) – This program addresses the opioid crisis in tribal communities by increasing access to culturally appropriate and evidence-based treatment, including MAT. Grant recipients will also address stimulant misuse and use disorders, including for substances such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

• Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) – SBIRT guides clinicians in the practice of screening for substance use disorders (SUD), providing intervention services, and referring patients to other treatment settings. Funding awards total $10.6 million annually to 11 grantees.

• Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs (SPF Rx) – This program provides funding to states, territories, and tribal entities to raise community awareness and bring prescription drug misuse prevention activities and education to schools, communities, parents, prescribers, and patients. The program seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of sharing medications and work with pharmaceutical and medical communities on the risk of overprescribing, particularly to young adults. Funding awards total $9.9 million annually to 21 grantees.

• First Responder-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Grants (FR-CARA) – This program encourages first responders and members of other key community sectors to administer a federally-approved device for the emergency reversal of a known or suspected opioid overdose. Grantees will train and provide resources to first responders and other community members at the state, tribal, and local governmental levels in safely implementing these lifesaving procedures. Funding awards total $8.2 million annually to 16 grantees, including the Contra Costa County Health Services.

• Providers Clinical Support System-Universities (PCSS-Universities) – This program trains health professionals to provide effective, evidence-based treatments to patients with OUD in primary care, psychiatric care, substance use disorder treatment, and pain management settings. The PCSS-Universities funding will expand or enhance access to MAT services at the community level by investing in the nation’s medical workforce educational system. Grant funds will provide education and training in MAT for students pursuing careers in the medical, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner fields.

Additional information about the multifaceted investment awards is available here.