West Virginia University Research Corporation

The Mid-Ohio Valley: WVU Research Rural Opioid Response Program is a collaborative effort of ten rural counties that build off the success and groundwork established through the Implementation I award. The core Substance Use Disorder/Opioid Use Disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery activities for this grant will be addressed through various approaches. For prevention, a few of the methods for fulfilling core activities will be to provide community education utilizing the “Regrounding Our Response: West Virginia” five-module curriculum adapted through RCORPI FY19 funding from the Maryland Department of Health, to expand the quick response teams in rural communities by developing collaborations with first responders and the judicial systems, to expand and develop new drug-take-back opportunities and safe medication disposal programs in the rural pharmacies. For treatment, a few of the methods utilized will be to provide support for targeted workforce recruitment for the rural clinics, expand evidence-based practices used in SUD/OUD and psychostimulant SUD including contingency management, targeted case management, comprehensive treatment programs, and train and educate clinical staff on proper billing and coding across insurance types in order optimize reimbursement for clinical encounters. One of the essential methods that will be utilized to address people in recovery is to develop rural community drop-in resource centers. Developing these resource centers in rural communities was a key need identified during the RCORPI FY19 award. The drop-in centers will provide a central location to offer classes to support people in recovery, such as SMART Recovery and Chronic Pain Self-Management programs as well as providing connections to necessary resources such as housing, food, and transportation.