Sunday, June 1, 2025
6/1/2025
Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Overdose Response - Mississippi has been among the states most adversely affected by the opioid epidemic. Mississippi exhibits an alarmingly elevated number of opioid prescriptions per resident. Moreover, prescriptions within the state often feature especially potent drugs with high MMEs (morphine milligram equivalents). Naloxone distribution networks within Mississippi remain in their infancy and fentanyl test strips are only now being considered for reclassification so they are no longer banned as drug paraphernalia. Consequently, overdose deaths within Mississippi remain at disturbingly high levels and are exacerbated by longstanding health disparities related to racial-ethnic stratification, poverty prevalence, rural remoteness, and the state’s designation as a medically underserved region. It is in this context that Mississippi proposes MS RCORP-Overdose Response to augment and extend the promising work conducted under the currently funded HRSA project, MS RCORP-Southwest SOAR. As a complement to MS RCORP-Southwest SOAR, MS RCORP-Overdose Response will prioritize the same high need and underutilized capacity Mississippi counties as its catchment region: Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, Pike, and Walthall. Fully responsive to the HRSA NOFO’s allowable activities, MS RCORP-Overdose Response is organized to achieve four interrelated goals. Goal 1: Enhance naloxone purchasing and distribution in the MS RCORP catchment region. Goal 2: Develop a plan for the purchase, distribution, and utilization of fentanyl test strips in the MS RCORP catchment region. Goal 3: Offer formalized training programs to enhance providers’ ability to care for individuals with SUD/OUD. Goal 4: Assess the implementation of Project ECHO within Mississippi and identify prospects for implementation in the RCORP catchment region. MS RCORP will employ a number of activities and methods to achieve these goals, to include conducting a comprehensive needs assessment of current catchment region capacities related to naloxone distribution, fentanyl test strip utilization, training knowledge and skills, and Project ECHO deployment; the completion of a gap analysis that identifies formidable change barriers in each of these implementation domains; the generation, pilot implementation, and evaluation of action plan elements focused on remedial measures designed to ameliorate gaps, build sustainable infrastructure (distribution mechanisms, first responder and local agency partnerships, etc.), and yield durable quality improvements. This project promises to turn the tide against the current opioid epidemic in a state whose residents have been most vulnerable to its negative fallout. Mississippi provides perhaps the most stringent test of the effectiveness of MS RCORP-Overdose Response activities. Strategies that produce positive impacts in Mississippi might serve as a best-practice model for efficacious intervention and mitigation in other rural states.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).