On November 15, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a grant notice for Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Planning (Exhibit A, Executive Summary).
The grants awarded will be up to $200,000 for June 1, 2019, through May 31, 2020, for planning efforts. In FY 2019 and beyond, there is expected to be additional funds available to provide continued support for implementation and evaluation activities. Grant applications are due January 15, and staff are participating in an informational webinar hosted by HRSA on December 7 to learn more.
All planned activities supported by this program must exclusively target populations residing in HRSA-designated rural counties or rural census tracts in urban counties and the consortium overall must be representative of rural entities. Within Snohomish County, the only two eligible census tracts are in the Darrington area, and in southeast Monroe, Sultan, Gold Bar, and Index.
The purpose of this grant is to support treatment for and prevention of substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder, in rural counties at the highest risk for substance use disorder. The overall goal is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses in high-risk rural communities by multi-sector consortiums planning to strengthen their organizational and infrastructural capacity to address one or more of the following focus areas at the community, county, state, and/or regional levels:
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Prevention: reducing the occurrence of opioid use disorder among new and at-risk users, as well as fatal opioid-related overdoses, through activities such as community and provider education, and harm reduction measures including the strategic placement and use of overdose reversing devices, such as naloxone.
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Treatment: implementing or expanding access to evidence-based practices for opioid use disorder treatment, such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT) including developing strategies to eliminate or reduce treatment costs to uninsured and underinsured patients.
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Recovery: expanding peer recovery and treatment options that help people start and stay in recovery. The grant will support one year of planning funding. The program is part of a multi-year opioid-focused effort by HRSA that will include: improving access to and recruitment of new substance use disorder providers; building sustainable treatment resources; increasing the use of telehealth; establishing cross-sector community partnerships; implementing new models of care, including integrated behavioral health; and providing technical assistance.
In FY 2019, HRSA will allocate approximately $24 million to fund RCORP-Planning. In addition, in FY 2019 and beyond, there will be additional funds available to provide continued support for implementation and evaluation activities.