HOPE for a Drug Free Stephens Corporation 467 West Doyle Street Toccoa, GA 30577 Entity Type: Consortium Facebook: @drugfreestephens Project Director: Kathy Whitmire, Executive Director, 706-491-3493, kfwhitmire@gmail.com Network Name: Stephens County Wellness and Recovery Network Focus Area: Care Coordination Proposed Service Region: Stephens County Georgia Target Population: 26,175 -The network will serve individuals who are at risk for, have been diagnosed with, and/or are in treatment and/or recovery for opioid and substance use disorders; their families and/or caregivers in Stephens County. Network/Consortium Partnerships: Avita Community Partners, Georgia Partnership for Telehealth, Stephens County Hospital and Physicians Group, North Georgia Physicians Group – Toccoa Clinic and The Center for Wellness and Recovery Attestation: 100% of partners are located in a HRSA designated rural area Experience: Over the past four years, the RCORP grant program has engaged a committed group of stakeholders from all sectors of the community and formed HOPE (Heroin Opioid Education & Prevention) for Drug Free Stephens, a not for profit corporation to bring awareness to the Opioid Crisis and create a sustainable path forward, to bring stakeholders together to take the message into the community, to educate the medical community, and raise awareness of the Opioid prescription crisis, to educate first responders and equip them with Narcan, increase MAT certified providers and addiction certified counselors, and identify peers that recovered from Opioid and substance use disorder and are helping others win the battle. Through these efforts, the group identified the urgent need for a more formal network as the next step. The group collectively decided to develop a plan to implement an integrated model of care through an integrated behavioral health network that will allow clinicians to compliantly share patient information in a central health informatio
n system, share behavioral health professionals via the secure GPT telehealth network., leverage negotiating power with Medicaid care management organizations, Medicare advantage plans, and commercial plans; and leverage buying power for supplies and pharmaceuticals. In addition, this planning effort will leverage the resources of the public and private members of the HOPE for a Drug Free Stephens Corporation and this group of stakeholders and board members recently voted to make application for this HRSA network development planning grant to provide the resources needed to make this network a realty to ensure a sustainable path for the future.