Cheshire Medical Center in Keene has been awarded a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office of Rural Health Policy to address prescription drug abuse by creating a Controlled Substance Management Network.
A Controlled Substance Management Network ties together primary care physicians with other health organizations, such as mental health providers, and addiction treatment centers. The lack of coordination among primary physicians, recovery centers and mental health professionals means prescription drug use is not being monitored optimally. For example, a physician may prescribe an opioid to a patient for pain relief and not realize that the patient is being treated for other confounding conditions or may be in recovery or in therapy for addiction problems.
“Most (healthcare) organizations operate in ‘silos,’ driven by competitive funding streams and often do not communicate effectively with other providers — such as mental health agencies and recovery centers — and vice versa,” says Polly Morris, director, Controlled Substance Management Network, Center for Population Health, Cheshire Medical Center.
“When we prescribe these powerful medications to patients, we need to keep an eye on them and right now, we do not have an ideal system in place. This network sets up a system of communication and best practices for prescribers and behavioral health providers. If the patient is already being prescribed medications, doctors and other healthcare professionals can help prevent the patient from being at risk for problematic use,” said Morris.
“If the patient is already in a circumstance of escalating use of the drugs, this coordination among network partners will help them get the right level of healthcare that is needed... By focusing on care coordination, it will help the individual, his or her family, and it will ultimately help the community. It is the whole ripple effect.”
The recent grant comes on the heels of a 2015 $85,000 one-year HRSA grant awarded to Cheshire Medical Center that helped create a Controlled Substance Management Network partnership with Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Monadnock Family Services, a community mental health agency and Phoenix House Keene Center, a nonprofit provider of addiction services. In 2017, the network enlarged to include Monadnock Voices for Prevention, the regional public health network’s primary substance misuse experts, and the Keene Serenity Center, a Recovery Center Organization in Keene that offers Recovery Support Services, trainings and education. “Phoenix House is committed to the goals of this grant and looking forward to working with our partners on improving practices to address the overuse and misuse of narcotics and other abusable drugs” commented Amelie Gooding MA, LCMHC, MLADC, Program Director, Phoenix House- Keene Center.
The current grant has enabled this partnership to take the next step and hire staff to facilitate ongoing network partner meeting and coordinated activities, to create a shared care plan in which the partnering agencies will better manage and monitor those being chronically prescribed controlled substances, noted Morris.
The three-year grant work will strengthen healthcare provider relationships, expand capacity for providing medication assisted treatment (MAT), and enhance existing services; a pilot project will involve participants from the Cheshire County Drug Court program, said Morris.
Overtime, the model of community-based service and cross-referrals among the partners in the program could be used to address other substance misuse, overuse and abuse problems in addition to controlled substances, noted Morris. The network will eventually be inviting community collaborators, including social service agencies and prevention coalitions as well as alternative practitioners to expand the network to accommodate more patients and to encompass more than addiction to controlled substances.
“The outcome of this work would be to reduce the burden of prescription drug overuse, misuse and abuse — and potentially other drugs as well,” said Morris. “This impacts the entire community and will ultimately be saving lives.”
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