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Project Name: Rural Communities Opioid Response Program - Medication Assisted Treatment Access (HB1)
Applicant Title: Big Springs Medical Association, Inc
Abstract Text: Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-MAT (HRSA-22-165) Big Springs Medical Association, Inc., d/b/a Missouri Highlands Health Care P.O. Box 157 Ellington, MO 63638-157 Karen White, Chief Executive Officer xxx-xxx-xxxx (phone), xxx-xxx-xxxx (fax) Email address: xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx Web site: www.mohigh.org U.S. Congressional Districts: Missouri-008 Funding Request: $1,000,000/year for 3 years History, Community and Target Population: Big Springs Medical Association, Inc., d/b/a Missouri Highlands Health Care (MHHC), has a substantial addiction medicine program, providing Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) services for 777 unduplicated patients in 2021. Through this project, MHHC will add eight new MAT access points, including at correctional facilities in each of the seven service area counties, as well as a mobile MAT unit. These new MAT access points bring MAT services to areas without access and connect critical MAT initiation services with correctional facilities and incarcerated persons experiencing opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder. The target rural area for the project includes the following seven counties in southeast Missouri: Butler, Carter, Iron, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, and Wayne. These counties are all rural with a significant portion of the area considered Frontier and Remote Area Level 4—indicating the highest level of remoteness. Residents face significant barriers including high rates of poverty and low-income persons, geographic/transportation barriers, lack of available providers, and low educational attainment. According to U.S. Census data, 100,236 people reside in MHHC’s service area counties, of whom 23.3% live in poverty, and 48.8% are low-income. Comparatively, 13.7% of Missouri residents live in poverty and 13.4% of United States residents live in poverty, indicating the service area has almost double the percentage of people living in poverty. The service area also has substantially high rates of low-income persons, 48.8%, compared to 32.1% in Missouri and 30.9% in the United States. The proposed project expands the number of MAT access points in high-risk, rural southeast Missouri. Key partners in the RCORP-MAT project include: Butler County Sheriff’s Department, Carter County Sheriff’s Department, Iron County Sheriff’s Department, Piedmont Police Department (correctional facility for Wayne County), Reynolds County Sheriff’s Department, Ripley County Sheriff’s Department, Shannon County Sheriff’s Department, Piedmont Family Pharmacy, and Key Drugs Pharmacy. MHHC and the aforementioned partners are poised and ready to implement strategies and activities to address the following project goals: • Goal 1: Establish new MAT access points to provide both medications and supportive services to individuals with OUD and/or AUD in rural communities; • Goal 2: Enhance the MAT workforce through recruitment, training, and the development of peer mentorship networks; • Goal 3: Build community capacity and infrastructure to support more effective and efficient MAT service provision; and, • Goal 4: Ensure sustainability of the new MAT access points through improved billing and coding, as well as enrollment of eligible individuals into health insurance.