Kentucky Opioid Response Efforts (KORE): First Bridge Clinic

Pharmacists are highly trained healthcare professionals with great ability to impact patient and public health, yet remain grossly underutilized within the healthcare community. Community pharmacists offer unparalleled access points for OUD treatment, overdose prevention and related harm reduction services, with at least one community pharmacy located in 119 of Kentucky¡¦s 120 counties. Pharmacists are participating in VivitrolÆÊ programs currently at two sites in KY ¡V Bluegrass Community Health Center in Lexington and St. Matthews Community Pharmacy in Louisville. and have established successful collaborative relationships with drug court officials and OUD treatment providers that we can use to develop our care delivery model. UK¡¦s CAPP has relationships with community pharmacists across the state and led the development of the training program required by the Board of Pharmacy to implement SB 192 which since May, 2015, has been used to train more than 1700 pharmacists and student pharmacists. In this pilot project, we will partner with pharmacists from Bluegrass Community Health Center in Lexington (Tera McIntosh) and St Matthews Community Pharmacy in Louisville (Chris Harlow) to integrate and build on their existing VivitrolÆÊ programs to develop the community.pharmacy care delivery model for VivitrolÆÊ. Training for administration and management of Vivitrol and implementation of the pharmacy.based care delivery model will be developed by the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Practice (CAPP). Once the care delivery model is developed and select pharmacists trained, we will facilitate collaborations between community pharmacists and local opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment providers offering psychosocial interventions, including Kentucky¡¦s 15 Community Mental Health Centers, as well as between local prison and drug court officials to identify individuals in need of VivitrolÆÊ therapy as they transition from criminal justice settings. Pharmacists implementing care delivery model would purchase and maintain VivitrolÆÊ inventory and would bill Medicaid MCOs or other third.party payers for the medication and its administration as appropriate. Individuals who are uninsured or whose insurance plan does not adequately cover the costs of VivitrolÆÊ could receive VivitrolÆÊ purchased by grant funds. As take.home naloxone is indicated for any individual with a history of OUD, pharmacists would also dispense and educate on use of naloxone. Once the care delivery model is established and implemented in select pharmacy sites, the program could be scalable to include additional community pharmacies in areas of highest need. FREEMAN ¡V SCOPE OF WORK Project Goals: We propose to increase access to VivitrolÆÊ by: 1) developing a community.pharmacy care delivery model for VivitrolÆÊ.based MAT 2) training community pharmacists to appropriately administer and manage VivitrolÆÊ therapy and implement the care delivery model 3) facilitating the establishment of collaborative relationships between officials overseeing release of incarcerated individuals, drug court officials, community pharmacists and practitioners who provide psychosocial interventions (CBT) for delivery of quality MAT for individuals re.entering the community following incarceration or drug court