Editor’s note:
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of KFF’s core operating programs and an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. is.
Written by Claire Cleveland
KFF Health News
DENVER — On a busy street corner outside the offices of the Harm Reduction Action Center on a recent afternoon, employees of the education and advocacy nonprofit were handing out free naloxone kits to passersby.
Distribution of opioid recovery medications is essential to the center’s work to reduce fatal overdoses in our communities. But how much longer the group can keep it up is questionable. The center relies on Colorado’s Opioid Antagonist Bulk Purchase Fund (also known as the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund), which receives hundreds of millions of dollars in national opioid litigation settlements. However, the Fund currently lacks a regular source of funding.
“Our concern is that naloxone will become unavailable, which means more people will die from preventable overdoses,” said Lisa Laville, the center’s executive director. .
The Bulk Fund was created in 2019 to provide free naloxone to organizations such as the Harm Reduction Action Center. The fund’s annual budget increased from just over $300,000 in fiscal year 2019 to more than $8.5 million in fiscal year 2022, according to a legislative report from the state’s Office of Overdose Prevention.
This fund has increased the availability of this drug across Colorado, and in 2013, it provided legal exemptions for health care providers who prescribe the drug and those who administer it to people suffering from an overdose. A law was passed to give. The foundation currently provides more than $550,000 worth of naloxone kits to various organizations each month.
Despite increased availability of naloxone, fatal opioid overdoses continued to increase. In 2023, 1,292 people died from opioid overdose in Colorado, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. This is an increase of 132 people from the previous year.
And now one of the fund’s main sources of funding, the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in response to the coronavirus pandemic, is set to expire next year. As of September, Colorado had $8.6 million left in the fund, said Vanessa Bernal, a spokeswoman for the state health department.
The fund received a boost in September when the state Department of Behavioral Health provided $3 million from a one-time Substance Use Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Services Block Grant and approximately $850,000 through a state Opioid Response Grant. . Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said his office will “make sure we have the funding we need again next year.”
The amount and sources of that funding have not yet been determined, and long-term solutions are still being considered. Mary Sila, former director of overdose prevention policy and strategy at the National Harm Reduction Coalition, said one option to strengthen the fund beyond next year is to take Colorado’s share of settlements from opioid lawsuits nationwide. He said it should be used.
“It’s completely ironic that while the settlement money is flowing, there is a lack of funding to address the opioid overdose crisis,” Shira said. “There is no more convenient way to use it.”
As of July, Colorado had received and distributed more than $110 million in opioid settlements to localities, municipalities, state entities, and infrastructure projects, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. It is expected to reach more than $750 million by 2019. 2038.
But more than half of the settlement money Colorado has received so far has already been paid to 19 local opioid reduction councils, each of which supports programs such as substance abuse treatment centers, public education campaigns, and training. are creating their own plans to allocate funds. For emergency medical providers.
For example, the Denver City Council, which has received more than $18 million since 2022, is disbursing funds to organizations in two- and three-year contracts, most of which do not include the purchase of naloxone.
“We all thought we could continue to get (naloxone) from the state health department and the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund,” Laville said.
The Denver City Council is working on a plan for the next few years, expected to be developed in mid-2025, and considering a reduction in bulk fund funding, said Marie Curran, program coordinator for the City of Denver’s Opioid Reduction Fund. It is said that there is.
Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, which administers 10% of the state’s opioid settlements, said the attorney general’s office is “certain that this life-saving drug is part of the state’s efforts to alleviate the opioid crisis.” “We are working on options to ensure we can continue.” ” These options are not yet published.
$85 million wrongful death lawsuit charges Newport News with gross negligence and willful and wanton negligence
October 26, 2024 08:00 AM
The National EMS Quality Alliance was recognized for its efforts to develop strategies to reduce ambulance crashes.
October 25, 2024 11:06 AM
Increased expenses are creating a revenue shortfall for Floyd County.
October 25, 2024 10:48 am
Raquel Soto, an EMT at AMR West Hartford, persuaded a suicidal man to stop jumping from an eight-story parking garage.
October 25, 2024 10:19 am
California, where Shira works, used the settlement money for a distribution program similar to Colorado’s. Tens of thousands of free naloxone kits will be provided to residents in Washington and Kentucky as part of state settlements with Teva Pharmaceuticals. States use opioid settlement funds differently, and many states provide naloxone to residents in some way, such as vending machines, but naloxone distribution programs cannot be centrally tracked.
Over the past five years, the Colorado Foundation has distributed more than 500,000 doses of opioid recovery medications to hundreds of organizations and schools across the state. Last year, the Harm Reduction Action Center received 7,284 doses of vaccine from the foundation, which Laville estimates saved more than 4,500 lives.
Unless additional funding is found, the bulk fund risks having to further restrict distribution, leaving hundreds of organizations that rely on it with little or no access to free naloxone. Although the drug became available over-the-counter nationwide last fall, its $45 price tag per two-dose package may keep it out of reach for some people who need it most. There is sex.
In May, the state announced which groups would get medicines from the bulk fund, dividing them into four categories from “essential” to “less necessary” based on how often health care providers directly encounter people at highest risk. announced a plan to give priority to or witnessing an overdose. The Harm Reduction Action Center is categorized as “essential”. School districts and colleges and universities are in the next highest category.
Another organization, the Naloxone Project, said it was misclassified because it was not placed at the highest priority level. As a result, the organization received just 1,200 doses of naloxone this year instead of the 6,000 it had requested from the foundation.
“We would like to argue that we qualify as ‘essential’ because many of our programs are public-facing and continue to provide naloxone to drug users and those most at risk of overdose. ,” said Rachel Duncan, Associate Director. Naloxone Project.
The group, which has chapters in 12 states, provides more than 90% of Colorado hospitals with nasal and injectable naloxone to administer to patients before they are discharged from the emergency department or delivery unit. . More than half of the 12,000 naloxone kits the project has distributed to health care providers in Colorado have come from bulk funds.
UCHealth’s Center for Addiction, Addiction, and Rehabilitation, a separate organization known as CeDAR, provides residential, outpatient, and telehealth treatment to patients who typically have insurance or pay out-of-pocket. You are no longer eligible to receive free naloxone because you can pay for it.
Carly Yarnell, a physician assistant with CeDAR, said even if someone can pay for the medication, it doesn’t mean they can go to the pharmacy to pick it up.
And Duncan is concerned about what lower doses could mean for organizations like the Naloxone Project and CeDAR.
“My concern is the scarcity mentality of organizations competing for funding,” Duncan said. “But I’m also concerned that the places that are used to reliably getting it will definitely not be there.”
©2024 KFF Health News.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
