SUD/OUD

The OPTIONS program in Maine is a groundbreaking initiative that collaborates with local emergency services and law enforcement departments. Its mission is to address substance use disorder by integrating behavioral health clinicians and recovery coaches into these critical response teams. Here’s how it works:

Team Integration: Behavioral health clinicians (Liaisons) and recovery coaches are embedded within local emergency services and law enforcement departments across Maine. They work side by side with first responders, creating a collaborative approach to addressing substance-related emergencies.

Promoting Prevention and Harm Reduction: These integrated teams actively promote drug prevention and harm reduction strategies. By engaging with the community, they raise awareness about substance use risks and educate individuals on safer practices.

Connecting People to Recovery and Treatment: When responding to incidents related to substance use, the clinicians and coaches connect individuals directly to recovery services and treatment options. This immediate linkage helps bridge the gap between crisis and long-term support.

Naloxone Distribution: The team also plays a crucial role in distributing naloxone, a life-saving medication that can reverse opioid overdoses. By having naloxone readily available, they contribute to saving lives during critical moments.

The MMA-CQI Supports: The Maine Medical Association’s Center for Quality Improvement (MMA-CQI) provides essential training and technical assistance to the behavioral health clinicians (Liaisons) and recovery coaches on these teams. To optimally support the implementation of expanding and multi-disciplinary roles on teams interacting with community stakeholders a learning collaborative approach has been adopted to facilitate systems level performance improvement and opportunities to share successes and pitfalls amongst teams across all 16 counties. This ensures that they are well-equipped to handle complex situations and provide effective care. 

The OPTIONS program is a testament to Maine’s commitment to addressing substance use disorder comprehensively. By combining behavioral health expertise with emergency response, it aims to make a positive impact on individuals and communities across the state.

Funding for these projects comes from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Expanding Access to MOUD In Hospitals

The Maine Medical Association Center for Quality Improvement (MMA–CQI), with support from the Rural Health and Research Center (RHRC), launched an Inpatient MOUD Learning Collaborative aimed at expanding access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) across Maine hospitals.

Building on the success of the Rapid Induction Starting in the ED (RISE) initiative, this collaborative supports hospitals in implementing the Standard of Care for initiating buprenorphine during inpatient stays. Hospitalization represents a critical window of opportunity to engage patients with opioid use disorder and ensure seamless linkage to ongoing care after discharge.

Participating hospitals receive:

• Monthly virtual learning sessions and expert-led training
• Practical tools and implementation resources
• Tailored technical assistance from addiction and quality improvement experts
• Opportunities to connect with peer hospitals and share successes
• Inpatient MOUD Toolkit

Faculty & Subject Matter Experts:

• Eric Haram, LADC – Haram Consulting
• Justin Bennett, MD – Blue Water Emergency Partners
• Whitney Jandreau, PharmD, BCPS – Northern Light Health
• Elizabeth Joyce, MD – MaineHealth

Funding for these projects comes from the Rural Health and Research Center

Rapid Induction Starting in the ED (RISE)

The Maine Medical Association’s Center for Quality Improvement (MMA-CQI) presents an opportunity for Emergency Departments (ED) directors, clinicians, nurses, and administrators to access technical assistance and mentoring. This support aims to facilitate the implementation of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in the ED setting. While education is valuable, establishing a program like this may involve some challenges or barriers.

Through our collaboration with BlueWater Emergency Partners and other experts, we offer ad hoc technical assistance to address questions that may arise during the implementation process. Our support includes both virtual and in-person consultations. Training and training support, as well as content development and community partners for patient hand-off.

Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic and workforce struggles, Maine’s EDs have demonstrated exceptional dedication. Currently, 29 out of the 30 EDs in Maine provide these crucial services around the clock. 

• Buprenorphine Algorithm
• MOUD in the ED Toolkit
• MOUD in the ED Toolkit Companion Guide
• Words Matter: A Substance Use Conversation Guide

Funding for these projects comes from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

The goal of the 1000 Lives Campaign is to reduce opioid-related deaths in Maine by 1000 from current predictions during the next 5 years.  

The 1000 Lives Campaign was announced at the Governor’s Opioid Response Summit in July 2023, and is now supported by much of Maine’s health care community, including the Maine Medical Association, the Maine Osteopathic Association, the Maine Hospital Association, the Maine Nurse Practitioners Association, and the Maine Association of Physician Assistants, each of the four integrated health systems, and almost all of the physician professional specialty organizations in our state.

The campaign seeks to prevent Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) deaths by implementing a set of health care site- and clinician-specific interventions to improve the treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs), with particular attention to improving treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD).  The interventions will be chosen based on their ability to reduce deaths.  

Visit the 1000 Lives Campaign webpage.

For more information:
Christy McGlynn, Project Manager
1000 Lives Campaign
[email protected]
(207) 287-0287

TREAT ME is a 12-block, year-long learning collaborative to increase knowledge of substance use disorders and comprehensive treatment strategies for treating adolescents and young adults in a primary care setting. The learning collaborative will address use of and addiction to marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, and more. This project was organized by the Maine AAP, MMA-CQI, DayOne, and the Opioid Response Network, in collaboration with the Maine Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, Maine Office of Child and Family Services, and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

The MMA-CQI Learning Lab has been designed to support health care practitioners, professionals, and practice teams with a wide range of continuing education offerings including online courses, webinars, and learning sessions. The courses and programs are designed to be informative, engaging, and give Maine physicians the opportunity to participate in on-demand asynchronous education on various topics and to earn CME credits while participating in a community of practice.

Each year the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine identifies educational topics of interest for Maine physicians, and MMA-CQI develops the curriculum, engages with subject matter experts, and produces the courses. All the BOLIM courses offer CME, and many meet the CME credit requirement for opioid medication education found in P.L. 2015, Chapter 488, Maine’s legislation to address the opioid drug crisis.

Funding for this project comes from the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine.

The MMA-CQI is working to promote and increase the use of the Overdose Detection Mapping Application (ODMAP) by providing technical assistance, quality improvement support, and opportunities for learning to law enforcement jurisdictions throughout Maine to help address overdose deaths. The project will help build partnerships for law enforcement with a community provider and will assess community readiness and the status of a response plan to overdose and overdose spikes.

Funding for these projects comes from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

The Milford Health Department has partnered with the MMA-CQI in the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) in Connecticut Communities. The project established the Milford Community Opioid Overdose Response (COOR) Collaborative, a multi-stakeholder group that brings all voices to the table to align and de-duplicate community efforts for the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) and substance use disorder (SUD).

By leveraging data from various sources, such as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the CT Department of Public Health (DPH), the COOR will assist in the development of a data to action roadmap that focuses on whole person care for someone suffering with OUD and/or SUD and will develop a sustainable model of collaboration to leverage these and other data for a more unified response to OUD and SUD that best serves the citizens of Milford.

Funding for this project comes from the Milford Health Department.