The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE), a private, national organization focused on contributing sustainable and scalable solutions to the opioid crisis, today announced that it is making $10.1 million in grants to 19 organizations across the country. These inaugural grants are for projects addressing access to opioid use disorder treatment and services in urban, rural, minority, tribal, and low-income communities.
"In 2018, an estimated 130 Americans died every day from an opioid overdose and an estimated 2 million people are currently experiencing opioid use disorder," said Andrea Barthwell, M.D., Chair of FORE's Board of Directors. "These initial grants focus on improving access to lifesaving treatment. In the months ahead, we will announce additional funding opportunities that address other aspects of this multi-faceted crisis."
In response to its first request for proposals, FORE received responses from 443 organizations from 46 states. The 19 projects were selected after rigorous review by a panel of 50 independent experts from across the country. They include several projects that are developing or expanding models to better deliver treatment services to adults, adolescents, pregnant or parenting women, justice-involved persons, and uninsured populations. Other funded projects are addressing payment and regulatory policies to increase access to treatment or provide telehealth, mobile, and rural hospital services. In addition, a consortium of leading national organizations is receiving funding for initiatives to improve care delivery in emergency departments across the country.
Karen Scott, M.D., M.P.H., President of FORE, said, "Our objective is to identify and fund patient-centered, innovative, and evidence-based projects that will expand learning and offer solutions. These initial 19 grantees meet that objective. They are strong examples of piloting or expanding innovative approaches for improving access to treatment for populations at high risk of overdose."
"FORE is committed to determining what works, where it works, and why so that best practices can be disseminated and sustained," Dr. Scott added.
The 19 grantees with their project service areas and titles are:
NATIONAL INITIATIVES
National Emergency Medicine ConsortiumThese three organizations are leaders in improving care of patients with opioid use disorder in the emergency department and will work collaboratively to further advance that work across the country.
- American College of Emergency Physicians/Emergency Medicine Foundation
Meeting Patients at the Front Door—Initiating Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery in Our Nation's Emergency Department
- Massachusetts General Hospital
'Get Waivered' National: Increasing the number of emergency department physicians able to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder
- Public Health Institute (National and California)California Bridge: Emergency Department Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Initiative
National Academy for State Health Policy
- State Policy Center for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Access
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Integrating Medications for Opioid Use Disorder into Primary Care: Innovative Payer and Provider Strategies for Improving Treatment, Engagement, Retention, Outcomes, and Disparities
- Improving Access to the Continuum of Care for Opioid Use Disorder for Low-Income Adolescents and Young Adults
STATE AND LOCAL INITIATIVES
Alabama
University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Strategic Plans to Combat Opioid Use Disorder in the State of Alabama
Alaska
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
- Opioid Use Recovery, Honoring & Empowering Local Providers (OUR HELP)
Illinois
Illinois Association of Free & Charitable Clinics
- Illinois Free and Charitable Clinics Response to Opioid Use Disorder
Maryland and Michigan
- Training Peer Recovery Coaches to Promote Retention and Adherence to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Among Low-Income Adults
University of Maryland School of Medicine
- Treatment with Buprenorphine through Telemedicine in a Rural Criminal Justice Setting
New Hampshire
Foundation for Healthy Communities
- Improving Hospital Inpatient Management of Opioid Use Disorders in Rural Communities
New York
Housing Works (New York City)
- Scaling up a Toolkit to Improve Retention and Adherence in Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
North Carolina
Mountain Area Health Education Center
- Building Access to Care Through Community Health Centers to Treat Opioid Use Disorder/Establishment of North Carolina Regional Addiction Medicine Programs
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Horizons Program
- Jenna's Project: Supporting Women's Re-entry to Society from Prison and Re-connection with Children
North Dakota
- Don't Quit the Quit: Treatment Services and Culturally-Responsive Community Support for Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder
Pennsylvania
Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania)
- Mobile Community-Based Engagement and Retention for Persons with Opioid Use Disorder
Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia)
- Lowering Barriers, Saving Lives, Reclaiming Health: Integrating Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
West Virginia
- Enhancing and Expanding Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Southern Appalachia Communities
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About FORE
The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) was founded in 2018 as a private 501(c)(3) national, grant-making foundation focused on addressing the nation's opioid crisis. FORE is committed to funding a diversity of projects contributing solutions to the crisis at national, state, and community levels. FORE's mission is to convene and support partners advancing patient-centered, innovative, evidence-based solutions impacting people experiencing opioid use disorder, their families, and their communities.
