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Medical Student X-Waiver Training Refined
PCSS's x-waiver training, designed specifically for medical students, has been updated. View here.

Updates include a Guide to Rational Opioid Prescribing, including five new engaging webinars with updated content, as well as buprenorphine patient stories and a new section on substance use disorders across specialties.

Once medical students, np and pa students, obtain their full DEA license, they will be eligible to apply for the waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Learn more about all PCSS's waiver trainings here.
PCSS Taps Physician Assistant (PA) as Newest Lead Mentor
PCSS has added Richard Bottner, DHA, PA-C, as its newest and first PA lead mentor.

Dr. Bottner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Bottner is also a physician assistant in the Division of Hospital medicine at Dell Seton Medical Center.

He is the Director of the Buprenorphine Team (B-Team), a full-service consultation team that provides patients who are hospitalized and have opioid use disorder access to treatment and linkage to appropriate outpatient care. The program also works to reduce stigma of patients with substance use disorders. Bottner is also the Director of Support Hospital Opioid Use Treatment (SHOUT) Texas, a program seeking to increase access to opioid use disorder treatment in hospitals across the state.

PCSS's free mentoring program allows you to connect with clinical experts in three ways:

  • An online discussion forum moderated by addiction specialists where health professionals can post questions and receive answers from clinical experts and other colleagues
  • Ask Clinical Question offers clinicians a way to get a direct answer to a question via email
  • One-on-One Mentoring provides individualized, one-on-one guidance via email, phone, or in-person, (if feasible) to discuss specific clinical issues. Members are “matched up” with one of our mentors in their region.
PCSS Exchange Series Begins April 8
Join PCSS for PCSS-Exchange (PCSS-X), a six-session course focused on prescribing medications for treating opioid use disorder (MOUD) and implementing MOuD into clinical practices in a variety of healthcare settings.

PCSS-X is intended for an interprofessional audience. Prescribers with frontline experience prescribing medications for opioid use disorder and developing clinic workflows will be available during each session to answer participants’ questions and discuss real-world cases.

The next PCSS-X series of live webinars is scheduled to begin Thursday, April 8, at 3 p.m. and continue every other week for six sessions.

Dates for the sessions are: April 8; April 22; May 6; May 20; June 3; and June 17, all Thursdays at 3 pm.
New Clinical Sites Join PCSS Implementation
PCSS clinical experts are now working with four clinical sites on how to integrate treatment of opioid use disorder in their clinical practice through the PCSS Implementation program. PCSS Implementation provides technical assistance to healthcare organizations and providers in the implementation of the use and/or expansion of treatment for substance use disorders services, including medications for opioid use disorder.

The new PCSS Implementation sites include:

  • Albany Family Medicine, New York. PCSS featured this practice in a recent PCSS Newsletter.
  • Fairborn Mental Health – Ohio, a Nurse Practitioner-owned drug addiction treatment and recovery center, serving the Dayton, Ohio region.
  • Colville Tribal Behavioral Health, Washington. an Indian Health Services contract to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for the delivery of mental health to Native Peoples and chemical dependency services to Native Peoples of Federally Recognized Tribes.
  • Jefferson Health, New Jersey, an integrated healthcare delivery system providing a full continuum of healthcare services, ranging from acute-care hospitals to a broad spectrum of outpatient and wellness program

If your site would like to be part of future implementation rounds, please contact [email protected].
PCSS On-Demand Webinars
All PCSS webinars are recorded and are available for on demand viewing, usually within two weeks of live webinar (and often sooner). Recent webinars that are now available:
(American Society for Pain Management Nursing)

(American Society for Pain Management Nursing)

(The National Council for Behavioral Health)

(American Psychiatric Association and American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry)

See list of all recorded webinars.
Upcoming PCSS Clinical Roundtables
March 24, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

April 27, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

May 18, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Credit Designations Available: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, and Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit.

* All times are ET
News
Webinar to Discuss Intersection of COVID-19 and Addiction

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Subject: Addiction and COVID-19: A Discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Nora Volkow

About the webinar: The Addiction Policy Forum is presenting a webinar with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), both part of the National Institutes of Health, about the intersection of the addiction and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics covered will include the impact on people with substance use disorders, the latest on safe and effective vaccinations for COVID-19, and the unique challenges that the pandemic has presented for people in recovery. [Register here]
Webinar Series Looks at Prescription Monitoring Programs
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2021

About the webinar: The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in partnership with Montefiore Medical Center and NYC Health + Hospitals, will host a series of webinars titled Optimizing Provide Use of Prescription Monitoring Programs with practical and current guidance for health care providers to optimize use of PMP data in clinical care. The presentations were developed by a team of experts and include case-based discussions highlighting common and challenging case scenarios.

The first webinar in this series will focus on the history, overview, and importance of using PMPs, and prescribing opioids for inherited patients. Future webinars in this series will cover equity and racial bias in opioid prescribing; prescribing for patients with complex medical histories; and more. One Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit (or equivalent) will be offered with each hour-long webinar and the completion of a short survey.
Webinar: Substance Use Disorders and Intimate Partner Violence
Time: 2:00 pm EDT
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021

Webinar Description: Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have significant effects on one’s health, including increased risk for substance use concerns. In addition to using substances in order to cope with experiences of violence, survivors may also be coerced to use substances, face increased violence if they do not use substances, and have their attempts to engage treatment and recovery sabotaged by a partner or ex-partner – all tactics of substance use coercion. Many substance use specialists and domestic violence advocates feel unprepared to help survivors address concerns related to substance use and substance use coercion.

Learn more and register here.
SAMHSA Releases New Treatment Improvement Protocols
SAMHSA has published a series of Advisories based on existing Treatment Improvement Protocols (TIPs) and Technical Assistance Publications(TAPs). These Advisories summarize updated guidance and recommendations on topics in the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment field. The new Advisories include: –











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Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI081968 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.