IN THIS ISSUE
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IEOCC 2019 Achievements
● Looking Ahead: 2020 Goals
●
Regional Round Tables: Behavioral Health Needs of an Bernardino County
●
MAT X-Waiver Training
●
Opioid and Fentanyl Security Summit
● Riverside County Expands MAT in Detention Facilities
● Our Counties’ Status: Crisis and Response by the Numbers
● Turning the Tide: Impact of State’s MAT Expansion Project
● IEOCC Access Workgroup and Telehealth MAT Leader, Bright Heart Health
● New Signal Key team member: Elham Ali, MPH, PMP
● Resource: Using Telemedicine to Treat OUD in Rural Areas
● 3 Things You Can Do
● IEOCC Workgroups: Join Us
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The IEOCC’s quarterly all-coalition meeting on December 10th, 2019 was attended by more than 50 individual leaders in health care, public health, and public safety, from across the Inland Empire. The group reflected on the coalition’s achievements in access to treatment, safe prescribing, and our other areas of focus. See some of the long list of accomplishments that are
featured on our website
.
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Looking Ahead: 2020 Goals
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Another topic of discussion at the December 10th meeting:
IEOCC’s goals for the coming year
. These are still under development within the workgroups. Here is a preview of some of these areas of focus. How will you and your colleagues participate in 2020?
● Continue to grow MAT capacity, including through the growing number of ED Bridge and Bridge-like programs.
● Provide MAT and naloxone to court-involved individuals. (See next news item about some of this work.)
● Improve pharmacy access to MAT medications and reducing stigma in pharmacies against people with MAT medication prescriptions.
● Broaden community outreach for overdose prevention and addiction prevention, including offering support to colleges and universities.
● Grow the reach in Inland Empire communities of this newsletter and of the information and resources available on the
IEOCC website
,
www.ieocc.org.
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Regional Round Tables: Behavioral Health Needs of San Bernardino County
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Join a local stakeholder round table convening to build collaboration and coordination to address the behavioral health needs of the region. Your participation strengthens the outcome!
January 27, 10am - 12pm
SB County Fire Station 91
301 S. State Hwy 173 / Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352
February 10, 10am - 12pm
IEHP Community Center
12353 Mariposa Rd / Units C2 and C3
Victorville, CA 92395
February 26, 10am - 12pm
Hi-Desert Medical Center / Helen Gray Education Center
6601 White Feather Rd / Joshua Tree, CA 92252
March 30, 10am - 12pm
SBC Dept. of Behavioral Health / Health Services Auditorium
850 E. Foothill Blvd. / Rialto, CA 92395
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There's no cost to attend the upcoming MAT X-waiver training in San Bernardino on February 6th. The training includes a 4-hour in person training and a 4-hour online training with a target audience of MDs, PAs, and NPs. More information and registration can be found
here
.
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Opioid and Fentanyl Security Summit
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Save the date for this free two-day event on February 10th and 11th in Downey, California. Leading experts in the fields of public health and law enforcement will discuss the latest trends in the national opioid crisis. Seating will be limited and on a first come-first serve basis - so don't delay and
get your ticket
t
oday!
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Riverside County Effectively Expands MAT Access in Detention Facilities
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Last September, Riverside County launched
Medication Assisted Treatment program
at the Robert Presley Detention Center (RPDC) in downtown Riverside. Thirty-seven inmates accepted MAT enrollment at RPDC during the first 38 days of the program’s pilot phase.
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Our Counties’ Status: Crisis and Response by the Numbers
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New profiles of our counties are now available with the latest 2019 statistics on the opioid crisis, buprenorphine treatment, and strategies to meet further treatment demands. Over 32,000 patients in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties are still without access to treatment. Learn the facts on increasing prescribers to fill the current treatment gap
here
.
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Turning the Tide: Impact of State’s MAT Expansion Project
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The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has published data on the reach of the
MAT Expansion Project
that included grants to several Inland Empire organizations. A
two-page flier (PDF)
shows expanded access to MAT in more than 650 places, 21,800 new patients with opioid use disorder who have received MAT, and 7,500 cases where naloxone rescued people who overdosed.
A longer piece (PDF)
provides more detail.
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IEOCC Access Workgroup Engaged with Telehealth MAT Leader, Bright Heart Health
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The IEOCC Access Workgroup is currently engaged with
Bright Heart Health
to explore telehealth medication assisted treatment (T-MAT) for Inland Empire patients. Bright Heart Health, the first nationwide T-MAT program, provides
online telemedicine treatment
for addictions and eating disorders from licensed professionals.
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New Signal Key team member: Elham Ali, MPH, PMP
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Signal Key Consulting, the team providing strategy and facilitation support to IEOCC, is pleased to introduce
Elham Ali, MPH, PMP
as the newest member of our team. She brings over 8 years of experience in project management, public health strategy, and healthcare service design.
Elham (
“El-Ham”
) will facilitate the four workgroups in their regular meetings, and join Hunter Gatewood in working with IEHP and the Steering Committee on the overall coalition. In January and February, Elham will join Hunter and Denise Armstorff in workgroup meetings as part of the transition. Elham is based in LA County and can be reached at
elham@signalkey.com.
From here, Denise’s work with Signal Key will focus on her passions of quality improvement project coaching and the training of coaches, and not in the regular work of IEOCC
.
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Resource: Rural Coalition’s Video Guide to Engaging Pharmacists
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The
Northern Sierra Opioid Safety Coalition
’s video demonstrates how their coalition has engaged pharmacists in their rural counties to reduce opioid misuse and increase naloxone access. Highlights within the video: safe prescribing methods for pharmacists (2:22), pharmacist counseling a patient about opioid risks (3:43), naloxone dispensing laws (5:41), and pharmacist counseling a patient’s spouse about using naloxone (7:03). Find the video on IEOCC’s
Clinician and Prescriber Resource Page
.
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Resource: Using Telemedicine to Treat OUD in Rural Areas
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Although the OUD overdose death rate has been trending higher in rural areas than in urban since 2004, rural counties are far less likely to have health care professionals who can treat OUD. To help fill this gap, health care professionals have begun treating OUD via telemedicine with initial studies indicating its effectiveness. Regulatory
(
Ryan Haight Act of 2008
)
and reimbursement issues have hindered the wider use of telemedicine for treating OUD, but facilities and professionals are finding ways to work around these issues as new laws take effect (
Special Registration for Telemedicine Act of 2018
)
. Read the full JAMA article
here
(paywall) or access the online pdf
here
.
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● In this new year, consider what individuals and what work on opioids is important to add to the coalition. Reach out to that person to encourage him or her to join us by contacting Joshua Crouch, program administrator, at
crouch-J@iehp.org.
● Direct people to relevant resources on the IEOCC website to find treatment, reduce stigma and provide better care to combat the negative effects of opioids in your community.
● Identify an audience for a presentation on an opioid-related topic, and find an expert presenter through IEOCC’s Education and Engagement Workgroup. Email Kelli Smith
,
smith-k4@iehp.org
.
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IEOCC Workgroups:
Join one to collaborate on specific goals to end the crisis.
**Action-takers wanted to help execute our established strategies.**
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Access to Treatment • Education & Engagement
Safe Prescribing • Prevention & Public Agencies
Email Joshua Crouch,
crouch-J@iehp.org
, to learn more.
Learn more about the IEOCC and its mission and vision on our
website
.
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IEOCC Workgroups: Join one to collaborate on specific goals to end the crisis - Action-takers wanted, to help execute our established strategies
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Access to Treatment • Education & Engagement
Safe Prescribing • Prevention & Public Agencies
Email Joshua Crouch,
crouch-J@iehp.org
,
to learn more.
Learn more about the IEOCC and its mission and vision
on our
NEW
website
.
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Vision:
To reduce opioid use and opioid related deaths in the Inland Empire.
Mission:
The Inland Empire Opioid Crisis Coalition (IEOCC) creates effective community collaborations between member organizations and individuals who need help with pain management and addictive disorders. The coalition employs the values and techniques of harm reduction and integrated care.
IEOCC will ensure the following changes occur in their communities:
- Education and engagement with service providers and community members.
- Safer prescribing practices for opioid medications.
- Increased use of medication-assisted addiction treatment (MAT), as part of a comprehensive system of integrated behavioral health care.
- Increased availability and use of the overdose reversal drug Naloxone.
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Thank you for your support in working together to improve the quality of life in the Inland Empire!
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