The Center for Care Innovation’s (CCI’s) Addiction Treatment Starts Here (ATSH) program includes three learning collaboratives designed to increase access to medications for addiction treatment (MAT) through hands on work in primary care, behavioral health and community partnerships. Each provides targeted hands-on technical assistance, education, and other methods to help clinics and communities advance their efforts. In designing these programs, CCI carried forward lessons from past addiction treatment work in primary care. To learn more about that work and the experience of a health center integrating MAT into primary care, view a short video of Marin City Health and Wellness Center’s transformation and read a description of the project’s goals and participant’s achievements.
Planning for all three ATSH collaboratives is well underway. The following is a short summary of each:
- Addiction Treatment Starts Here: Primary Care (ATSH:PC) is working with 39 health centers across California to implement new or expand existing MAT programs. The collaborative launched in February 2019 and will conclude in September 2020. All sites have been selected and materials and resources are available on ATSH:PC website. The primary care collaborative is also supported by Cedars-Sinai.
- Addiction Treatment Starts Here: Behavioral Health (ATSH:BH) will work with 10 mental health and substance use disorder sites to design and launch MAT programs. ATSH:BH will launch in May 2019 and conclude in September 2020. The program is in the process of selecting participants. The request for application is available on the ATSH:BH website and responses are due by April 5, 2019.
- Addiction Treatment Starts Here: Community Partnerships (ATSH:CP) is a 16-month learning collaborative that supports multi-sector collaborations between community stakeholders (e.g., health care providers, local community residents, public agencies, first responders, and other local organizations) to address opioid use disorder (OUD). The project will equip California community opioid coalitions with on-the-ground technical assistance to identify their best opportunities through systems mapping and solutions for fighting the opioid crisis. A summary of the program and the letter of intent is available on the ATSH:CP website.