Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Overdose Response - Applicant Organization Name: Bingham Healthcare Main and Physical Address: 98 Poplar Street Blackfoot, ID 83221 Facility Type: Critical Access Hospital and Primary Care Website: https://www.binghamhealthcare.org Project Director: Scott Johnson, PharmD Contact information: (208) 782-2990 / scjohnson@binghammemorial.org Project Name: Expanding Opioid and Drug Treatment Accessibility Program (EODTAP) Focus Area: In 2017, the federal government declared opioid use a public health emergency. Since then, the crisis has only grown more severe, especially after COVID-19 ravaged communities. Idaho has not been spared from the opioid epidemic. Overdoses have risen rapidly over the past decade and prescription and synthetic opioids continue to circulate. Idaho has many factors that have exacerbated the opioid epidemic. Along with its rurality, most areas of the state experience shortages in primary care and mental health providers, have large percentages of low-income residents, high number of underinsured/uninsured individuals, and high opioid dispensing rates. To address opioid overdoses in Bingham County and Butte County, Bingham Healthcare will implement several key activities focused on including pharmacists into substance use disorder and opioid use disorder (SUD/OUD) care delivery. Grant Activities: Bingham Healthcare will focus on two grant approved activities: 1. SUD/OUD Care Delivery Sites. Establish, improve, or expand physical SUD/OUD care delivery sites. Bingham Healthcare will renovate our current pharmacy area to include private consultation/recovery rooms that will facilitate a host of benefits for patients at risk of opioid overdose, including medication reconciliation, education, naloxone distribution, screenings, and administration of extended-release naltrexone injections. 2. Screening and Connection to Treatment. Pharmacists will utilize evidence-based screening tools to identify those at risk of SUD/OUD and associated infectious diseases while ensuring individuals who test positive receive appropriate treatment and access to behavioral health and social services. Screening tools and workflows will be shared with partner organizations in the service area. Proposed Service Region: All target service areas are in Idaho and designated rural: Bingham County and Butte County. Target Population: This project will address the needs of rural patients at high-risk of developing SUD/OUD in the proposed service area, including low-income individuals, minority groups, individuals struggling with mental health disorders, the uninsured, and those with chronic disease. Experience in Serving Rural Underserved Populations: Bingham Healthcare is a non-profit health system located in rural southeast Idaho. As the largest network of doctors, surgeons and specialists in the region, our services include a growing number of hospitals, surgery centers, and physician offices. Bingham Healthcare has over 140 medical providers and offers over 100 types of patient services. Bingham Healthcare has a robust history of serving rural communities over the past seventy years. Recently, we hired a family medicine provider that specializes in addiction medicine to confront the growing problem of drug and opioid overdose in the community. He is currently the only family medicine provider qualified to treat SUD/OUD in the area. Expected Outcomes: 1) Bingham Healthcare’s MOB pharmacy will be expanded to include consultation/recovery rooms where clinical pharmacists and our addiction medicine specialist will provide private education, screenings, consultation, medication reconciliation, and administer MAT. 2) Bingham Healthcare pharmacists will be integrated into BHC’s SUD/OUD care models. 3) Utilize screening tools to prevent addiction and identify individuals struggling with SUD/OUD and related infections.
