COLUMBUS – Ohio is getting a $16 million piece of a billion-dollar pie to help combat the opioid epidemic.
The funding announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will go toward prevention efforts in both rural and urban communities, and for health centers in the state to expand substance-abuse services.
The investment is being made to help communities determine where there are gaps in services and develop plans to address those challenges, with a focus on treatment and recovery options.
“We can’t force individuals to start treatments or go through recovery, but we need to be there to support them in their efforts,” Nisha Patel with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, said. “And so, even if they have overdosed more than once and ended up in the hospital, we’re continuing to find ways to make sure they know what services are available.”
Two-thirds of the 60,000 drug overdose deaths in the U-S last year were attributed to opioids. Ohio’s 3,600 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016 was more than double the national rate.
Making sure that there are enough doctors, nurse practitioners, recovery coaches, counselors and other professionals is key to supporting addicts who enter treatment and go through recovery, Patel said.
Meanwhile, on Monday the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan opioid legislation that calls for $3.7 billion in new funding to help combat the opioid epidemic.
The bill included $232 million in funding for programs authorized by Ohio Republican Sen. Portman’s Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act in 2016, and a measure sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown which would help newborns suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome, a withdrawal condition often caused by the use of opioids and other addictive substances in pregnant women, would allow Medicaid to cover certain health care services provided to infants and clarify that the services can continue after the child’s first birthday.