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Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium Receives Funding through CDC Grant

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded $13.3 million over three years to a collaborative of organizations in the region, led by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) and including the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium. The CDC grant was awarded Sept. 6 under the agency’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) plan, which is intended to support grant recipients in obtaining improved data about overdose morbidity and mortality to better inform ongoing prevention and response efforts.

CCBH, one of 78 nationwide entities to be awarded a CDC grant under this program, will receive $4.4 million in the first year. Of this funding, The Center for Health Affairs will receive almost $340,000 the first year to support education initiatives through the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium program to expand staff and resources dedicated to tackling the opioid crisis in Cuyahoga County.

The grant funding supports a variety of strategies to strengthen surveillance and better track opioid overdoses and deaths. In addition, it will augment prevention efforts by establishing linkages to care, increasing support to provider and health systems, and optimizing prescription and drug monitoring programs.

The CDC grant funding received by CCBH will allow the Opioid Consortium to increase efforts to develop evidence-based provider education geared toward emergency room physicians, and other providers who are triaging patients at risk for opioid use disorder or who have experienced an opioid related event. The Center will employ a project manager to facilitate train-the-trainer education to healthcare providers to improve their use of the state’s prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), an electronic database that tracks controlled substance prescriptions in a state. Called the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS), it is one of the most promising state-level interventions to improve opioid prescribing, inform clinical practice and protect patients at risk. In conjunction with these efforts, The Center will develop and maintain a web-based platform to deliver education aimed at supporting the providers, and other healthcare disciplines such as nursing, pharmacy and social work professionals.

“This funding will change the way healthcare is delivered on the frontlines and ultimately improve patient outcomes,” said Camille Zalar, Director Education & Initiatives Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium. “The education and training program will support our emergency room providers who care for patients who have overdosed, or who are at risk for opioid use disorder by maximizing the use of the PDMP and referral to treatment process.”

Additional Ohio grant recipients include the Ohio Department of Health, Franklin County Public Health and Hamilton County Public Health. The Cuyahoga County Board of Health will work collaboratively with these partners to share best practices and implementation strategies.

MORE: For more on the CDC grant, contact us.

TWEETABLE: @neohospitals and The Northeast Ohio Hospital #OpioidConsortium will receive funding under a CDC grant to support efforts to combat opioid overdose and death.