SAMHSA announces $196 million funding opportunity for opioid treatment grants to hardest-hit states and tribes

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now accepting applications for $196 million to treat opioid use disorder through its Targeted Capacity Expansion: Medication Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug Opioid Addiction grant program.

The new funding will expand access to medication-assisted treatment and recovery support services to people with opioid use disorder. Eligibility is limited to the states, political subdivisions within states, and public and private nonprofit organizations in states with the highest rates of primary treatment admissions for heroin and prescription opioids per capita and includes those with the most dramatic increases for heroin and prescription opioids, as identified by SAMHSA’s 2015 Treatment Episode Data Set. Tribes and tribal organizations across the United States are also eligible to receive funding. The desired outcomes of this grant program include an increase in the number of people receiving medication-assisted treatment for their opioid use disorder, leading to a decrease in heroin use and prescription opioid misuse.

“This grant opportunity is made possible in part by the increased opioid funding secured from Congress by President Trump, and will help expand access to proven addiction treatment in communities hardest hit by the opioid crisis,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “We know medication-assisted treatment is an effective, essential tool in fighting the opioid crisis, and HHS will continue working to expand access to it.”

By funding treatment in states with the greatest need for additional treatment resources, HHS and SAMHSA aim to reduce the number of deaths related to opioid use. “A targeted approach allows us to deliver evidence-based practices and programs where they are needed most,” explained Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. The funding opportunity announcement contains a list of the 35 eligible states; tribes and tribal organizations from anywhere in the United States are eligible.

Under President Trump, in April 2017, HHS unveiled a new five-point Opioid Strategy. The Strategy prioritizes efforts in five areas: 1) Improving access to prevention, treatment and recovery support services, including medication-assisted treatment; 2) Promoting the targeted availability and distribution of overdose-reversing drugs; 3) Strengthening public health data reporting and collection; 4) Supporting cutting-edge research on addiction and pain and 5) Advancing the practice of pain management. Since Fiscal Year 2017, HHS has invested over $1 billion in opioid-specific funding, including funds to state and local governments as well as civil society groups—to support treatment and recovery services, target availability of overdose-reversing drugs, train first responders and more.