In 2016, the Snohomish Health District was approached by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to participate in opioid projects associated with a new grant received from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). This CDC grant was a multi-year award known as the Prevention for States (PfS) grant.
Work was initially focused on developing a partnership with Providence Regional Medical Center Everett to begin collecting opioid overdose data in the emergency department, as well as patient follow-up. It was added to our Consolidated Contract (ConCon) in 2017 with an original award of $32,667 through August 31, 2017.
Deliverables were completed as requested, and staff inquired about the possibility of increasing funding amounts to expand opioid prevention activities. DOH increased funding for 9/1/17-8/31/18 to $206,454, and the current award through the ConCon for 9/1/18-8/31/19 is $141,530. This is the final year for the original CDC grant that DOH was awarded.
On March 12, 2019, DOH held a webinar for local health jurisdictions currently receiving funding under the PfS grant. It was announced that the CDC will not be renewing that source, but are moving to a new funding opportunity being referred to as the Overdose Data to Action grant. If awarded the full grant, DOH will allocate approximately $1.5M annually to local health jurisdictions. This funding will be awarded to local health jurisdictions annually for a three-year grant, starting September 1, provided DOH is awarded the grant through the CDC as expected.
DOH is inviting local health jurisdictions to submit a two-page proposal and budget for the top funding priority in alignment with the Overdose Data to Action prevention strategies. In addition, they are allowing for submittals for second and third priorities should additional funding be available. These proposals were due to DOH by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 28.
The bulk of the work will be to continue funding the 1.0 FTE focused on opioid prevention activities, as well as to continue contracts with Providence and Swedish for opioid tracking. Details will be shared with the Executive Committee at the March 27 meeting. Based on the very short timeframe to submit proposals, staff requested approval from the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee reviewed the proposal, authorized the Administrator to submit it, and recommended this item go to the Board as a briefing.