Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Impact - Healthy Connections, Inc. | RCORP-Impact HRSA-26-037 | WS01680799 Project Title: Healthy Connections Rural Recovery Network (HCRRN) Applicant: Healthy Connections, Inc. (HCI) Address: 136 Health Park Lane, Mena, AR 71953 Project Director: Ann Elizabeth Calandro | acalandro@healthy-connections.org | (479) 437-3449 Website: www.healthy-connections.org | Cong. District: AR-4 Funding Request: $750,000/year; $3,000,000 total HCI requests RCORP-Impact funding to implement HCRRN, a four-year project serving Clark, Grant, Hot Spring, Montgomery, Polk, Pope, and Sevier Counties in rural Arkansas. The target area includes rural communities affected by poverty, uninsured and underinsured status, transportation barriers, behavioral health workforce, language-access needs, justice-system involvement, limited treatment and recovery resources, and fragmented referral pathways. HCRRN will build on HCI's FQHC infrastructure, rural clinic sites, established MOUD services, behavioral health integration, pharmacy support, telehealth, Community Health Workers, and prior RCORP MAT Access experience to strengthen a coordinated regional recovery system. Direct SUD/OUD services will include screening, SBIRT and early identification, same-day and low-barrier treatment access, Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD), behavioral health and SUD counseling, integrated primary care, medication access and pharmacy support, peer recovery support, overdose prevention education, recovery planning, relapse prevention, telehealth, and rural outreach/mobile service strategies. Supportive services will include CHW/case management, recovery navigation, PRAPARE-based social determinants of health screening, financial and health care navigation, transportation coordination, insurance and benefits enrollment assistance, language access through staff translators and Propio, closed-loop referrals, and connections to housing, employment, food and family supports, justice-to-community transition resources, and clinically indicated step-up services such as inpatient, residential, withdrawal management/detox, crisis stabilization, intensive outpatient, or partial hospitalization. HCI will strengthen the rural SUD workforce through training and workflow development for MOUD-capable providers, behavioral health staff, SUD counseling providers, peer recovery specialists, CHW/case managers, navigators, and network partners. Training will address MOUD best practices, screening and referral workflows, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, stigma reduction, overdose prevention, documentation, data reporting, care coordination, language access, and RCORP learning collaborative participation. The formal RCORP-Impact network includes HCI as lead applicant; Wolfe Street Foundation for peer recovery support; Tracy Kennedy Counseling, LLC / Inspired Counseling for SUD counseling and therapy; and Arkansas Behavioral Health Integration Network (ABHIN) for workforce development, training, technical assistance, behavioral health integration, quality improvement, reimbursement readiness, and sustainability planning. HCI will also coordinate with referral collaborators for justice/reentry, housing, employment, transportation, and step-up treatment transitions. Expected outcomes include increased access to SUD/OUD prevention, treatment, recovery, and supportive services; increased MOUD initiation, engagement, and retention; improved access to counseling and peer recovery; stronger CHW/case management and closed-loop referrals; reduced transportation, language, insurance, and social barriers; improved continuity of care after treatment interruption, incarceration, or step-up services; stronger rural workforce; and a sustainable recovery network supported by FQHC reimbursement, Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, 340B pharmacy resources, operational integration, partner commitments, and sustainability planning.
