Key points:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that the Agency has awarded $20.3 million in grants “to increase the number of fellows at accredited addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry fellowship programs.”
- Given to 44 recipients, these dollars will go toward training addiction specialists at facilities in high need communities to help Americans fight and overcome the opioid crisis.
Details:
Through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HHS is helping doctors fight the opioid crisis. According to HHS, these HRSA grants will equip addiction specialists with “the knowledge and skills to provide comprehensive healthcare to people suffering from opioid use, substance use, and mental health disorders.”
“This new funding will increase the number of support specialists available to treat Americans with addiction, addressing a serious need that could be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said.
These grants will lead to more board-certified addiction medicine specialists and addiction psychiatry sub-specialists. They will also help doctors “collaborate and establish formal relationships with community treatment sites in underserved areas” to help Americans fight opioid addiction. And they will “enhance training for faculty on opioid and substance use disorder prevention and treatment.”
This announcement builds on historic work President Trump and Congress started to fight the opioid crisis in the 115th Congress through H.R. 6, which put into place measures to reduce the unnecessary prescription of opioids and to also help American who have become addicted to these medicines.
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