Trainings and Resources

Under new US Department of Health and Human Services practice guidelines released last week and awaiting publication, physicians will no longer have to obtain a federal waiver to prescribe the opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment buprenorphine. Eliminating the waiver – long viewed as significantly limiting access to OUD treatment medications – may enable more primary care and other practices to provide this kind of treatment. States, which followed the federal waiver requirement in their prescribing and reimbursement policies, may need to re-align their policies with the new federal guideline. Please note: this has not gone into effect and we will update the language when it does

People who use drugs (PWUD) in the U.S. experience disproportionate adverse health outcomes and mortality as compared with the population as a whole (Lake & Kennedy, 2016; Reisinger, Pratt, Shoenborn, & Druss, 2017). Similar health outcomes have been reported elsewhere, for example in the UK (Neale, 2004), and across 8 other European countries (Bargagli et al., 2006). In the U.S. health outcomes among PWUD are intensified by the overdose pandemic, epidemic rates of HIV, hepatitis A and C, skin and soft tissue infections (CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020; Hagen, Thiede, & Des Jarlais, 2005; Scholl, Seth, Kariisa, Wilson, & Baldwin, 2019), and by structural barriers thwarting health access and utilization.

Find all funding and frequently asked questions for programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

We know that many of HRSA’s rural health program recipients and stakeholders are concerned about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its impact on your programs and your communities. We encourage you to be proactive in your emergency preparedness planning and to coordinate with partners at the state and local level in emergency response. This link provides a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from their grantees and stakeholders.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides daily updates on the Coronavirus with guidance for health providers and local public health officials.: results from a multisite study of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network

Physician and pharmacist collaboration may help address the shortage of buprenorphine-waivered physicians and improve care for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). This study investigated the feasibility and acceptability of a new collaborative care model involving buprenorphine-waivered physicians and community pharmacists.

This commentary highlights labor concerns and inequities within the harm reduction sector that hinder programs’ ability to respond to converging public health emergencies (the overdose crisis and COVID-19), and potentially contribute to spread of the novel coronavirus.

This major final rule addresses: Changes to the physician fee schedule (PFS); other changes to Medicare Part B payment policies to ensure that payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice, relative value of services, and changes in the statute; Medicare Shared Savings Program requirements; Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program requirements for Eligible Professionals; updates to the Quality Payment Program; Medicare coverage of opioid use disorder services furnished by opioid treatment programs; Medicare enrollment of Opioid Treatment Programs; payment for office/outpatient evaluation and management services & more.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced it will publish Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder*, to expand access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) by exempting physicians from certain certification requirements needed to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment.

During this webinar, Pam Baston, Technical Expert Lead with JBS International, Inc., provided practical examples of grant writing strategies and techniques from many successful proposals. This session included tips for: Reviewing the funding opportunity application, Creating the template and action list, Assembling a team & Creating responsive and competitive proposal sections