PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island is one of two states – Alabama is the other – that will receive resources and services, but not money, from the American Medical Association to help address the ongoing opioid overdose crisis, Steve DeToy, Rhode Island Medical Society’s director of government and public affairs, told Providence Business News.
Why Rhode Island? “We have a much bigger incidence of fentanyl in our street drug supply than many other states [and] a higher amount of people who die very quickly [from overdoses],” said DeToy, adding that the AMA recognized Rhode Island’s innovative efforts to address the crisis. Calling Rhode Island’s efforts “darn near unique,” DeToy said that, unlike nearly all other states, Rhode Island is funding prevention and treatment initiatives. “Governor [Gina Raimondo] brought us all together … and we have a goal of reducing opioid deaths by one-third in the next three years. There’s huge cooperation … and we listened to the experts, Dr. Jody Rich and Traci Green, and came up with a plan that fits Rhode Island. That’s really the issue – every state has a whole different set of circumstances; no one size fits all.”
On Aug. 10, Dr. Patrice A. Harris, chair of the American Medical Association’s board of trustees and of AMA’s Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse, participated in a ceremonial signing of a memorandum of understanding among the AMA, the RIMS, the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals to develop a pilot program to build a toolbox for medical providers to use in treating acute pain, opioid use disorders and patients needing overdose prevention education, according to a statement issued by the parties to the memorandum of understanding.
The online and in-print toolbox will incorporate the best information from the AMA, RIMS and Rhode Island health officials. Due to be released in September, the toolbox will provide data, resources and practice-specific recommendations to enhance decision-making for physicians and health care providers who care for those patients experiencing chronic or acute pain and/or opioid use disorders and those needing education pertaining to overdose prevention.
“By choosing our medical society and our state to benefit from this grant, the AMA clearly recognizes the efforts being made here, on so many levels, to battle the opioid epidemic and save lives,” Dr. Sarah Fessler, president-elect of RIMS, said in the statement. “Our road is still long. However, with this toolbox, we will have more resources to guide the care of our pain patients, to improve safety, identify non-pharmacological treatment alternatives and provide access to medication-assisted therapy for our patients who need it.”
“Physicians and other health care providers are key partners in our work to address Rhode Island’s drug overdose crisis,” Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the DOH, and co-chair of the governor’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force, said in the statement. “We are pleased to partner with the AMA and RIMS to develop this new set of tools for Rhode Island health care providers.”
Funded through a grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the project is administered by the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.
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