State Efforts to Improve the Continuum of Care for Substance and Opioid Use Disorders

Thursday, April 21, 2022

9:45 AM – 11:00 AM ET

Location: International Ballroom F

Presenter(s)

Shelby M. Hockenberry, PhD

Program Director, Healthcare Delivery
National Governors Association
Washington, District of Columbia
Nawshin Ahmed, MPH, MBA

Senior Policy Analyst
National Governors Association
Washington, District of Columbia
Brittney Allen, PhD

Interim Director, Division of Behavioral Health
Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities
Frankfort, KY
Katherine Marks, PhD

Project Director, Kentucky Opioid Response Effort
Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities
University of Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky

Moderator(s)

Duane Slone, JD

Judge
Circuit Court of the 4th Judicial District of Tennessee
Dandridge, Tennessee

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices ― in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Technical Assistance Collaborative ― launched a learning collaborative for states on strengthening substance use disorder (SUD) systems of care to support governors’ offices and other senior state officials in improving coordination across the continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery services. The goal of this work was to further state efforts in developing and implementing evidence-based interventions that link individuals with SUD to care and treatment, while also building a sustainable infrastructure that reduces barriers to access for high-quality treatment and recovery supports.

Several themes emerged that centered around the need to improve the collection and use of data across systems, address racial and ethnic disparities, and transform governance structures. This session will highlight successes and lessons learned from Kentucky's efforts to improve the SUD continuum of care through:

Improving the person-centeredness of their treatment and recovery systems
Improving SUD and opioid use disorder (OUD) outcomes and reducing health disparities across all or some populations affected by SUD/OUD
Identifying and coordinating resources for SUD/OUD services across state agencies to improve the purchasing power of the state and reduce duplication and inefficiencies
Restructuring community norms to reduce stigma toward those seeking services so that treatment for SUD is as accepted as treatment for any other medical condition

Learning Objectives:

Explain how to develop and begin to execute a coordinated statewide vision for a robust SUD continuum of care to better align priorities, resources, and collaboration across agencies and stakeholders
Identify strategies to expand public health, behavioral health, public safety, and first responder partnerships and programs to identify key intervention points and link individuals to treatment (e.g., diversion programs; first responders and connections to treatment; medications for OUD and corrections, supervision, crisis response systems, community providers)
Identify opportunities for building a sustainable treatment infrastructure that addresses barriers to access for high-quality treatment, including innovative state approaches for addressing provider workforce challenges, lack of parity in coverage of behavioral health services, and stigma