Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital has received a three-year $1 million grant as part of nearly $400 million in allocations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat the nation’s opioid crisis.
The investments, obtained in partnership with Lincoln Health & Human Services and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, will enable Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded community health centers, rural organizations and academic institutions to establish and expand access to integrated substance use disorder and mental health services.
The only other Rural Opioid Implementation Grant recipient through the HRSA in the state was Oregon Washington Health Network in Pendleton.
The announcement comes during Lincoln Community Health Center’s (LCHC) celebration of National Health Center Week. LCHC was one of 27 health centers in Oregon to receive one of the grants in the amount of $167,000 for 2019-2020.
“With this funding we plan on hiring another counselor who will be able to go out into the community to help people with substance use and mental health issues,” LCHC Executive Director Rebecca McBee-Wilson said. “We appreciate this opportunity to further expand our services in Lincoln County.”
The awards support HHS’s Five-Point Opioid Strategy, introduced under President Trump in 2017. The number of patients receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction at HRSA-funded health centers increased 142 percent from 2016 to 2018, and the number of patients receiving buprenorphine, a common form of MAT, has increased 28 percent.
HRSA is awarding more than $200 million to 1,208 health centers across the nation to increase access to high quality, integrated behavioral health services, including the prevention or treatment of mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder through the Integrated Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) program.
In addition to HRSA’s investments in community health centers, HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy is awarding more than $111 million to 96 rural organizations across 37 states as part of its Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) initiative.
HRSA is also awarding nearly $70 million to Opioid Workforce Expansion Programs (OWEP) for Professionals and Paraprofessionals to fund 64 grantees and over $17 million to Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program to fund 49 grantees.
The awards support training across the behavioral health provider spectrum including community health workers, social workers, psychology interns and post-doctoral residents. These programs encourage an integrated approach to training through academic and community partnerships. These workforce investments help clinicians to provide integrated behavioral health care and treatment services in underserved communities.
The funds, which include an evaluation of the initiative, will strengthen rural communities’ capacity to provide needed SUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services and build the evidence base for interventions that are effective in rural settings.
View a list of IBHS award recipients here: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/program-opportunities/funding-opportunities/behavioral-health/awards
To learn more about RCORP and view the lists of recipients visit https://www.hrsa.gov/rural-health/rcorp
