HHS Grants Additional Money to Expand Access to Effective Opioid Treatment

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an additional $487 million to supplement first year funding through its State Opioid Response(SOR) grant program. The second year awards to states and territories are part of HHS’s Five-Point Opioid Strategy to combat the opioid crisis. Combined with the $933 million already awarded, the total amount of SOR grants to states and territories totals more than $1.4 billion. The funding will expand access to treatment that works, especially to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with appropriate social supports.

The State Opioid Response grants administered by HHS’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) aim to address the opioid crisis by increasing access to MAT using the three U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder, reducing unmet treatment need and reducing opioid overdose-related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment and recovery activities for opioid use disorder. “Strategies such as employing psychosocial supports, community recovery services and MAT using medicines approved by the FDA constitute the gold standard of treatment for opioid use disorders,” said Elinore F. McCance-Katz, MD, PhD, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use. States and territories receive funding based on a formula, with 15 percent set aside for the 10 states with the highest mortality rates related to drug overdose deaths.

Other funding, including $50 million for tribal communities under the Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grant program, has been awarded separately. These programs are built from the foundations laid in the $1 billion provided to states and territories through SAMHSA’s Opioid State Targeted Response (STR) program. SAMHSA has complemented the work of the STR program with a national center of excellence that provides technical assistance and training to leverage local subject matter experts at the community level to sharpen treatment access and delivery.