Report calls for 'major action' from Delaware in fight against heroin addiction

A new report is calling for “major action” from Delaware officials and agencies to contain the heroin and opioid crisis that has made Delaware one of the deadliest states in the country for the drugs.

In 2016, Delaware tied with Rhode Island for the ninth highest drug overdose death rate nationwide — and the fatalities have only worsened since then, claiming a suspected 145 lives so far this year.

A 14-month review of Delaware’s opioid use disorder treatment system by a research team from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative has identified four major areas for the state to take on, the first of which focuses on expanding the treatment system.

This finding has been at the core of nearly all evaluations of Delaware’s opioid treatment system, which advocates for years have said fails to meet the needs of residents struggling with addiction.

More: Delaware's deadly crisis

Some of the report’s recommendations, including launching a “Centers of Excellence” model that would create three stabilization centers throughout the state, fall in line with efforts the state Department of Health and Social Services is already taking. A soft launch of these "Centers of Excellence" is expected to occur in August, with a full launch later this fall.

“Patients often experience addiction treatment as fragmented, difficult to access, and short-term,” according to the report. “This experience reflects the lack of a clearly articulated pathway that allows individuals experiencing a crisis to receive timely access to care, as well as the limited availability of linkages to continuing care to facilitate long-term treatment.”

The Centers of Excellence model looks to address this problem directly, by connecting those who have either experienced a nonfatal overdose or are seeking treatment with a direct pathway to care for their addiction. The state plans to use people in recovery to work as peer supports for those in the throes of addiction.

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The model will also work in tandem with legislation passed this year to create an Overdose System of Care, similar to the state’s coordinated response to trauma or stroke.

The new system — one of the first of its kind to launch nationwide — will institute a consistent response to drug overdoses and attempt to ensure patients don’t fall through the cracks when these incidents occur.

“The recommendations from the Johns Hopkins team gives us a solid foundation in data, evidence and experiences from which to strengthen the opioid use disorder treatment system in our state,” said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, secretary of the state Department of Health and Social Services.

“With almost one Delawarean dying each day from overdoses and thousands of more individuals and their families impacted by this epidemic, we need to meet people whenever and wherever they are ready for the most effective treatment we can provide.”

The report made recommendations for the following three areas:

• Engage high-risk populations in treatment, specifically by expanding access to medication-assisted treatment in state prisons; upgrading the state’s three withdrawal management centers; and encouraging the use of medication-assisted treatment in emergency rooms.
• Create incentives for quality care by ensuring that providers are receiving full payment for addiction services they are providing to Delaware residents.
• Use data to guide reform and monitor progress.

The recommendation regarding data is key to addressing Delaware’s efforts.

Health-care data is highly confidential and notoriously hard to share, even when hundreds of lives are lost each year.

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This report encourages state officials to develop a dashboard that would show outcomes of Delaware treatment options and availability in real time that would be accessible by the public.

More than half of July's overdoses happened in Sussex County, prompting a state warning.

The report also falls in line with the work of the Behavioral Health Consortium, which put out its own set of recommendations earlier this year after holding multiple community forums throughout the state. Headed by Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, the consortium tackles addiction and mental health issues.

“This report really helps to identify those priority areas we need to address to fix our broken system of treatment in Delaware,” said Hall-Long, who will be leading some of the changes.

The full report is available online through the state Department of Health and Social Services.

Contact Brittany Horn at (303) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.