Hospitals are on the front lines of our efforts to address the national opioid crisis. ONDCP has recently engaged with a number of innovators and pioneers who are developing effective hospital-based approaches to the epidemic. These include:
- Dr. Gail D’Onofrio, who developed and evaluated protocols for buprenorphine induction in the emergency department and linkage with primary care at Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. D’Onofrio is currently leading a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded clinical trial replicating the protocol in EDs in Baltimore, Cincinnati, New York City, and Seattle. More information is available here.
- Dr. Edward Bernstein of Boston Medical Center, who recently launched the Faster Paths to Treatment program, an opioid-focused urgent care service coordination unit for people who have overdosed or have an opioid use disorder (OUD). This program is funded by the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.
- Dr. Traci Green of Boston University and Michelle Harter of Anchor Recovery Community Centers, who launched the AnchorED, a project through which recovery coaches from Anchor Recovery Community Centers are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to engage overdose survivors in all Rhode Island hospital emergency departments. ONDCP continues to track progress of this project as it expands to include the Anchor MORE (Mobile Outreach) program, which deploys peer recovery coaches from Anchor Recovery Community Centers out into the community.
