Opioid Use Disorder in New York State: Can the Mental Health System Help Close the Medication Treatment Gap?

Title:
Opioid Use Disorder in New York State: Can the Mental Health System Help Close the Medication Treatment Gap?

When:
Thursday January 20, 4:00 to 5:30 PM

Description:
Medications for treatment of opioid use disorder (methadone, buprenorphine, extended-release injection naltrexone) promote abstinence, return patients to healthy functioning, and prevent overdose. Yet most people with opioid use disorder are not taking medication treatment, and overdose deaths continue to climb. Access to care is part of the problem, with many communities lacking sufficient prescribers. Also, many people with opioid use disorder have co-occurring mental health problems which complicate their care. This Symposium will review two major initiatives in New York State to address the opioid treatment gap. Qingxian Chen from the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) will present data on the surprisingly high prevalence of opioid use disorder in the public mental health system in New York State, and correlates of opioid use disorder and overdose among Medicaid-insured individuals with psychiatric diagnoses. Dr. Molly Finnerty from NYS OMH and New York University Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will present on three OMH opioid Initiatives, engaging over 600 programs, which encourage outpatient and emergency services to screen for opioid use disorder, provide opioid education and naloxone distribution (OEND), and either refer patients who screen positive to other medication treatment providers or directly provide buprenorphine and naltrexone. Dr Tim Hunt from the Columbia University School of Social Work will present on the Healing Communities Study (HCS) in New York State, which is conducting community-level interventions across 8 New York State Counties to increase availability of treatment. Dr. Hunt will specifically discuss mental health programs within several communities that have engaged in the HCS study around the goal of increasing prescribing of medication for opioid use disorder. Discussion will focus on lessons learned from these initiatives on the barriers and facilitators to implementing opioid treatment, the potential of engaging mental health providers to treat opioid use disorder, and brainstorming ideas for future research.
   
Speakers:
1) Qingxian Chen, MS. Qingxian Chen, MS, is the Director the Bureau of Population Health within the Office of Population Health and Evaluation. 
Topic. Epidemiology of Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose in the Public Mental Health Population in NYS 

2) Molly Finnerty, MD. Dr. Finnerty is the Medical Director and co-lead of the Office of Population Health and Evaluation at NYSOMH, Director of PSYCKES Learning Healthcare Systems, and an Associate Research Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University.   
Topic. The OMH Opioid Initiatives: Implementing screening, naloxone distribution, referral, and treatment of opioid use disorder in the New York State mental health system: Progress and challenges

3) Tim Hunt PhD, MSW, LCSW-r. Dr. Hunt is a research scientist at the Columbia School of Social work, Columbia University School of Social Work, Associate Director with the Social Intervention Group (SIG), the Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRRCA), and Columbia’s Center for Healing of Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders-Enhancing Intervention, Development and Implementation (CHOSEN).
Topic. The Healing Communities Study (HCS) in New York State: Experience engaging mental health programs as part of county-wide strategies to implement medication treatment for opioid use disorder: Progress and challenges