Emergency Department and Bridge Clinic Services (C3952) - KORE/SOR III/Inpatient/ACES

The Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE) seeks to expand and sustain a comprehensive, equitable recovery- oriented system of care to address opioid use disorder (OUD) and stimulant use disorder (SUD) for all individuals throughout Kentucky. To achieve this aim, KORE and its partners commit to implementing a trauma- and resilience- informed care approach within a racial equity framework to reduce overdose deaths and increase access to high quality, evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery support services that are culturally responsive. Informed by data on populations most in need, the KORE projects will focus on five primary populations: 1) opioid overdose survivors, 2) pregnant and parenting women with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), 3) justice-involved individuals with OUD, 4) children, transition-age youth, and families impacted by OUD and 5) individuals with co-occurring opioid use disorder or stimulant use disorder and mental health disorders. University of Kentucky Research Foundation (UKRF) with University of Kentucky HealthCare (UKHC) has developed a multidisciplinary approach to address the opioid epidemic through innovative treatment and prevention efforts. First, an Emergency Department (ED) intervention will utilize a Bridge Clinic to link those who present for overdose at the ED to an outpatient transitional care clinic. Second, treatment access shall be expanded by initiating a community-pharmacy care delivery for Vivitrol. Third, through the HEALing Communities project, UKRF will address the opioid epidemic by disseminating prevention supplies to Local Health Departments who serve individuals with OUD. Prevention supplies shall serve alongside the Bridge Clinic, inpatient, and outpatient services to decrease risk of overdose death, decrease likelihood of acquiring and spreading infectious diseases, and increase likelihood of accepting a treatment referral.