Expanding During Shutdown: Virtually Delivering Substance Use Disorder Services to Rural Communities

Monday, April 18, 2022

1:00 PM – 2:15 PM ET

Location: International Ballroom A-D

Presenter(s)

Monica Rousseau, DrPH

Public Health Analyst, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
Health Resources and Services Administration
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Chetana Musapeta, MPH

Program Manager
National Center of Wellness & Recovery at Oklahoma State University
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Roxanne Elliott, MS

Policy Director
First Health of the Carolinas
Pinehurst, North Carolina
Michael Yates, MDiv

Director of Development
Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Moderator(s)

Betty-Ann Bryce, JD, MPA

Senior Policy Analyst
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Member, Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
Washington, District of Columbia

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of healthcare delivery overnight. As communities and businesses shut down, behavioral health practitioners were forced to expand in innovative ways to serve their most at-risk community members. This session will provide an overview of three successful case studies, where rural consortia leveraged telehealth to improve access to care among people who are incarcerated and people at risk of delivering a child with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Presenters will detail the effectiveness, challenges, and successes of deploying mobile telehealth carts, virtual office-based opioid treatment, and virtual care coordination. The session will conclude with details of federal resources available to rural practitioners who are considering implementing similar programs that bridge the care divide among special populations in rural America.

Learning Objectives:

List federal resources to help rural practitioners implement telehealth programs that address substance use disorder
Describe three innovative ways telehealth is being leveraged in rural communities to serve special populations, like women who are incarcerated
List and apply key considerations required for successful telehealth programs in rural communities