Addiction Medicine Fellowship - Title: Expanding Training in Addiction Medicine Applicant Organization: Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467 Project Director: Kristine Torres-Lockhart, MD, Contact: (phone), 888-757-7421 (fax), Email: ktorresloc@montefiore.org Grant funds requested: $4,000,000 ($800,000/year x 5 years) Funding preference: PHS Act section 760(d)(1) Funding Priority 3: Rural, Tribal or Underserved Communities PHS Act Section 791 Funding Preference Qualification 1: High MUC Placement Rate Project Abstract Less than 20 percent of people with substance use disorders (SUDs) receive evidence-based treatment. Expanding the addiction medicine workforce is needed to increase treatment capacity and access, reduce stigma, and improve SUD treatment integration in primary care and mental health community based-settings. Collaboration with interprofessional teams and the development of novel partnerships are needed to address the role of structural determinants of health (SDoH) and legal challenges for those with SUDs. The proposed project will build on prior successes achieved with HRSA funding to achieve three overarching goals: 1) increase the number of addiction medicine specialists with robust clinical training in medically underserved communities and rural settings providing integrated primary care, mental health, and SUD prevention and treatment services, 2) increase fellows’ knowledge and ability to assist their patients in navigating social and legal systems related to their clinical care and needs, and 3) increase awareness of addiction medicine as a subspecialty and decrease stigma to expand the pipeline of addiction specialists through exposure to clinical rotations and education. Founded in 2019, the Montefiore-Einstein Addiction Medicine Fellowship (AMF) Program is a successful one-year program that provides uniquely rigorous clinical training in community-based, inpatient, and outpatient settings including: longitudinal clinical experiences in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), opioid treatment programs (OTPs), and clinics in medically underserved communities (MUCs) and rural areas, and engagement with community-based organizations. Training is supervised by an interprofessional team of nationally-recognized addiction medicine faculty. We have a track record of successfully preparing graduating fellows to enter the addiction workforce as physician leaders in integrated, interprofessional SUD prevention and treatment in MUCs. Training sites are located in high need urban and rural areas of New York, including: the Bronx, Ithaca, Montour Falls, and Cortland. The Bronx is a county of high need, with the highest drug overdose death rate in all New York City, 18 HRSA-designated medically underserved areas, and 8 HRSA-designated health professional shortage areas. This program meets the criteria for Section 760(d)(1) statutory funding preference for substantially benefitting a medically underserved population and funding preference qualification for high medically underserved community placement rate for recent graduates (75% for 2023-2024 academic year [AY]).
