Thursday, May 1, 2025
5/1/2025
The BLISS Family Medicine Medication-Assisted Treatment Program - BronxCare Health Integrated Service System Inc. (BLISS) Family Medicine proposes to expand and enhance its Medication Assisted Treatment Program in the South and Central Bronx, culminating in the establishment of a MAT Center of Excellence. The program will use evidence-based practices to identify, screen and offer treatment and counseling to individuals with Opioid Use Disorder in the primary care setting. BLISS’s five Family Medicine clinics will be the originating sites for MAT screening, using SBIRT to offer individuals the opportunity to participate in the treatment program. In year two, the screening program will be rolled out to BLISS Ambulatory Care. Other departments within BLISS’s affiliated larger health system – BronxCare Health System – will be able to easily refer patients through the integrated system, and in year three, education and outreach to the community will encourage and support referrals. Project staff include an addiction psychiatrist, a project director, a behavioralist, data analyst/evaluator, and community health worker. BLISS will utilize the services of an AmeriCorps Opioid Response Corps Member in Family Medicine’s Comprehensive Pain and Integrated Health Clinic to provide preventive education and outreach to the community. The BLISS Family Medicine Medication-Assisted Treatment Program will focus on adults in the community, 98.7% of whom are racial, ethnic or social minorities, who screen positive for Opioid Use Disorder. It is estimated that between 5% and 6% of the service area’s adult population has an Opioid Use Disorder. Of New York’s 62 counties, the Bronx has the highest rate of opioid-related hospitalizations and the second highest frequency of opioid-related emergency department visits. Program goals include: The expansion and enhancement of the use of medication assisted treatment (MAT) in the South and Central Bronx. Bliss aims to increase its program by 500%, providing MAT to 100 additional patients in year 1, 200 additional patients in year 2, and 300 additional patients in year three; 600 additional patients in all; and the expansion of community partnerships to support community wide referrals and provide appropriate support services to facilitate long term recovery. Program objectives include: establishing a gradual roll out of SBIRT and other screening and assessment tools; establishing a plan to mitigate risk of buprenorphine diversion; establish a centralized MAT Center of Excellence at the Fulton Family Clinic; integrating SBIRT into the intake process at Family Medicine locations to identify and refer patients with OUD for MAT; and enhance community recovery supports, preventive education and outreach. BLISS, a FQHC, will use the expertise of an addiction psychiatrist, as well as two Family Medicine site administrators and two Family Medicine, DATA 2000-waivered physicians to champion the MAT program and serve as mentors.
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).