Address: 605 Grove Road, Greenville, SC 29605 Project Director Name: Alain Litwin, MD, MPH, MS Contact Phone Numbers (Voice, Fax): (864) 430-0911 Email Address: alain.litwin@prismahealth.org Website Address: www.prismahealth.org List all grant program funds requested in the application: $3,000,000 Project POWER aims to reduce morbidity and mortality related to substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid and alcohol use disorders, in rural communities of South Carolina (SC). The project will utilize Healthcare Navigators, Nurse Practitioners, Peer Support Specialists and community partnerships to expand access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and other evidence-based interventions and treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) for people living with OUD in four SC counties (Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens and Oconee). We will increase treatment capacity through the introduction of mobile health clinics and link organizations with current capacity to address the gaps in MAT services. The overarching goal of this project is to expand/enhance access to MAT by increasing the number of individuals with OUD receiving MAT and providing services to support decreased illicit substance use and prescription opioid misuse. Within Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens and Oconee counties, services will be targeted specifically to include people living in rural areas, as well as un- and under-insured individuals, those without access to transportation, and/or facing other socio-economic or stigma-related barriers. The goal and objectives of the project align with the statement of need which shows negative Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and a lack of accessible MAT services for the target population throughout the four-county catchment area. The project team will focus on linking patients to care in close physical proximity to their location; addressing SDoH by screening for specific barriers to treatment, including lack of transportation, and then worki
ng to overcome those barriers; facilitating warm handoffs; and expediting intakes to get people on MAT. The Nurse Practitioners will identify and support a network of MAT providers, leveraging the proposed 11 new access points, to increase access and reduce transportation barriers to patients. To make the target population aware of the mobile clinic and the services provided, the POWER project team will use the following strategies: 1) engage and collaborate with community leaders and other community organizations on outreach, communication and marketing campaigns; 2) send teams led by individuals trusted by the target population directly to encampments and other areas frequented by the target population; and, 3) promote the new access points via social media and word of mouth campaigns in the target counties. By bringing services directly to the target counties, Prisma Health–Upstate can better meet the needs of underserved and high-risk populations that are currently without access to screening and MAT via traditional access points and achieve broader service coverage across at-risk populations.