The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded RWJBarnabas Health‘s Institute for Prevention and Recovery a $3.75 million grant to expand access to medication for opioid use disorder and enhance recovery support services over a five-year period.
This grant will support the implementation of the Medication-Assisted Treatment – Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction, or MAT-PDOA, program and the establishment of a “bridge clinic” at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and at Clara Maass Medical Center that provides patients with transitional medication in between discharge from the hospital and placement in a community care setting.
The goals of the MAT-PDOA program are to increase the capacity of RWJBarnabas Health staff to provide medications in combination with comprehensive clinically appropriate services for individuals with opioid use disorder in the emergency department, increase the number of patients receiving medication-assisted treatment and decrease illicit opioid drug use and illicit prescription opioid misuse.
“We are thrilled to be awarded this grant funding, which will enable us to establish a bridge clinic, increasing access to medication for opioid use disorder and enhancing our ability to encourage patients to enter and remain in treatment,” Connie Greene, senior vice president, RWJBarnabas Health Institute for Prevention and Recovery, and co-chair, RWJBarnabas Health Tackling Addiction Task Force, said. “The MAT-PDOA program will build upon our comprehensive harm reduction efforts and serve as another vital tool in our toolkit as we work to proactively address the opioid epidemic from all angles.”
The MAT-PDOA program will focus on four key areas: education, prevention, treatment and recovery. Supplementing these initiatives, the IFPR Peer Recovery Program is also distributing naloxone kits to eligible patients upon discharge from the emergency department through a partnership with RWJBarnabas Health’s Corporate Pharmacy Division and the Rutgers Opioid Overdose Prevention Network.
Since its establishment in 2016, IFPR has served over 76,000 individuals through its Peer Recovery Program, which provides recovery support services for all patients who present with substance use disorders across RWJBarnabas Health emergency departments and inpatient floors, connecting individuals to comprehensive support services and placing them on a path to recovery.
For more information about the RWJBarnabas Health Institute for Prevention and Recovery, visit call 833-233-IFPR (4377).
