$26B Opioid Settlement: How to Advocate for Funding at the Local Level
Credit: iStock
By Catherine Dorrough
Now that funds from the $26 billion global opioid settlement with the “Big Three” pharmaceutical distributors have begun to reach state coffers, the next questions states must grapple with are: Who gets the money, how much, and for what? In late May, just as the funds began to flow, Lexipol hosted a webinar to tackle those questions, inviting representatives from their grants department to join fire and EMS personnel for a wide-ranging panel discussion that covered eligible uses of the funds as well as suggestions for how local communities can advocate for their need.
“The participating states will receive funds based on the impact of the opioid epidemic in their state,” said Sarah (Wilson) Handler, Lexipol’s vice president of grants. “The share of the impact is calculated using data such as the amount of opioids shipped to the state, the number of opioid-related deaths that occurred in the state, and the number of people who suffer opioid use disorder in the state.”
Stephanie Bays, Lexipol’s director of grants, added that states’ deadlines for disbursing the funds range from seven to 17 years. “This is a long-term source of funding,” she said.
According to a press release by The National Prescription Opiate Litigation Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, 85 percent of funds must be allocated to treatment, education, and prevention efforts. “A majority of states have already passed agreements that dictate and tell us how funds will be distributed between states and local governments, ensuring that funds will effectively reach communities in the coming months,” said Handler.
“Although specifics are varying by state… we can expect EMS, fire, and police to directly benefit from the effects of opioid remediation efforts funded by these settlements and the injunctive relief these settlements provide.” Eligible uses of funds include:
medication-assisted treatment
mental health treatment and capacity building
screening, intervention, and referral services
training and support to emergency services professionals
community education, outreach, and prevention
Narcan and opioid-reversal interventions
revisions to prescribing practices
“A success story goes a long, long way to really proving what you’ve done correctly and what you can continue to do and build upon if this funding gets put in your hands.”
Bays recommended several tactics for first responder groups who are seeking to advocate for access to the funds. First, she said, be aware of how your state is distributing funds, as it varies state by state. Questions to ask include: Has your state established a committee? Does your state already have procedures in place to distribute funds? Do you have a way to receive settlement updates? And finally, do your city officials know what your department’s needs are? Back up your statement of need with quantitative data as well as stories from the front lines of the epidemic to make your case, she advised.
“A success story goes a long, long way to really proving what you’ve done correctly and what you can continue to do and build upon if this funding gets put in your hands,” added panelist Dan Rogers, assistant chief of the Witt, Ill. Volunteer Fire Department.
Peter Canning, EMS coordinator at UConn John Dempsey Hospital and author of the book “Killing Season: A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic,” added: “Nationwide, we hear about the far right and the far left, and they’re battling each other. The bottom line is that politics is local, and just about everybody involved in government, they want to help their constituents. And so if you go to a local person, whether it’s the mayor of your town or the senator from your state, and say, here’s a problem that we have and here’s the good it will do – they want to listen to you, they want to help you, because that’s what they’re there to do. And the more they help you, the more it’s going to help them.”
Abatement Projects
“One of the best ways to spend this money is to provide education to EMS and first responders about the epidemic,” said Canning. “Here in Connecticut, through some federal funds, we provided a symposium in each of our five EMS regions… We had scientists, we had harm reduction people, we had law enforcement people, all gathering together to talk to EMS about what’s going on with the epidemic.”
He said Connecticut has also invested in a data collection system through Poison Control to gather information about overdoses and identify trends. Moreover, he added, ambulance services have begun hiring overdose coordinators who follow up with people after an overdose to try to get them into recovery.
“We gather police, fire, EMS all together at the same table to talk about the best ways to handle things… Too often, in the past, communities [would] have all these meetings, and the only [people] not at the table were the first responders.”
“The most important thing is to establish a linkage with your local public health departments,” he said. “Too often, in EMS, we’re just about responding, and that’s it. If we link with public health, we can expand the type of delivery of care that we give and provide truly mobile integrated healthcare.
“We gather police, fire, EMS all together at the same table to talk about the best ways to handle things… Too often, in the past, communities [would] have all these meetings, and the only [people] not at the table were the first responders. The first responders are a part of our health care system, and a part of our community, and I think linking up with all these different people can do wonders in quite a number of ways.”
Rogers said that in rural areas such as the one he serves, funding could be used for training in recognizing overdoses and correctly administering Naloxone. “Many times, we get to a scene, and it takes us a couple of minutes to really get a good understanding of what’s going on before we really start administering some good treatment… We often respond, as fire departments, with non-affiliated EMS agencies, with law enforcement, and oftentimes when we get there, the person that’s down could be surrounded by 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 people,” he said. He recommended getting community leaders involved to set up large-scale trainings for all possible stakeholders. “Everybody you can think of that could, at some point, have a change in the outcome of one of these patients, needs to be on the invite list.”
He also spoke in praise of the Naloxone leave behind program. “If we go to a call and we know that this is a ‘frequent flyer’ or a multiple response residence that we’ve gone to before, we’re going to take a couple of extra canisters and we’re going to set them on the counter and we’re going to have a discussion with family members on how to properly administer this.
“One of these days, that could be the difference between life or death. It’s an outstanding program.”
His department has also been able to expand the use of the program beyond their service area through a partnership with the local sheriff’s office. “Even though it’s a program based out of my department, we’re still making a difference with this program throughout the entire county, which is huge in our eyes and completely worth the little bit of work it takes to get this program underway and maintain it.”
Click here to watch the complete Lexipol webinar on-demand.