The American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) is excited to announce that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has funded Providers Clinical Support System-Medications for Opioid Use Disorders (PCSS-MOUD). PCSS-MOUD is led by AAAP with a coalition of over 20 national professional healthcare organizations. The three-year grant begins Sept. 30, 2023.
PCSS’ coalition is integral to its mission to provide evidence-based practices for health professionals in the prevention, treatment and recovery of opioid use disorders, co-occurring psychiatric disorders and other substance use disorders. By expressing their support of PCSS in letters to SAMHSA, PCSS partner organizations have been critical in this effort to support the renewal of this grant, which has been instrumental in better preparing the education, training and mentorship for all health professionals.
While this new funding of PCSS will look slightly different, given the recent elimination of the X-waiver requirement, the PCSS-MOUD consortium will continue to expand and diversify services, including:
- ongoing training and education with continuing education credits (major focus on stigma reduction; expansion of MOUD, training including required DEA 8-hour training);
- knowledge building skills on the basics of OUD and other SUDs and co-occurring psychiatric and physical disorders;
- expand target audience to include counselors and recovery community
- clinical mentorship; and
- implementation support to address systemic factors that can support treatment expansion beyond the primary care setting including emergency departments, legal settings, and dentistry, which will require interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary training.
PCSS will further augment its work by expanding the role of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC), which also has the Recovery COE to integrate the recovery field more into our work, broaden representation of other SAMHSA-funded TA Centers. This includes Rural Opioid Technical Assistance and African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence organizations. Additionally, individuals with expertise in training in rural communities and organizations will provide training and raise awareness on the needs of historically minoritized individuals.
The goal in the next three years is to streamline and enhance PCSS’ work while connecting our work with other SAMHSA-funded technical assistance programs throughout communities and across all disciplines in healthcare. PCSS will strive to expand its work and modify efforts with emerging issues like fentanyl and xylazine while maximizing the available resources and creating new ones.
We’re excited to begin this next stage of PCSS! Together we can make a difference.
