PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M Raimondo and CVS Health Corp. announced a partnership to open an Opioid Center of Excellence in Woonsocket to expand access to the Medication Assisted Treatment program to northern Rhode Island on Thursday.
CVS Health will make a $250,000 contribution to assist the Community Care Alliance to open and operate the center. CCA was recently certified by the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals to operate a Center of Excellence.
“As an organization that serves to empower individuals in our community, we are grateful to CVS Health for their generous donation that will allow us to directly help those most affected by the opioid epidemic in our state. Thanks to Governor Raimondo’s leadership, members of our community are coming together to fight this crisis,” said Benedict Lessing, CEO of Community Care Alliance, in a statement.
According to the BHDDH, a Center of Excellence “will provide assessments and treatment for opioid dependence, will offer expedited access to care and serve as a resource for community-based providers” and “will be able to provide medication services on-site, including FDA-approved medications for the effective treatment of opioid use disorders (methadone, buprenorphine products and naltrexone).”
The announcement of the partnership to sponsor a new CoE comes right before the governor entered into a panel discussion at the National Governors Association Summer Meeting on the national overdose crisis.
“The overdose epidemic is the single greatest public health crisis of our time. I am so thankful to CVS Health for stepping up to the plate to support Rhode Island’s efforts to expand access to treatment and recovery,” Raimondo said in the statement. “This crisis has touched every community in our state. Because of CVS Health’s commitment, we’re going to be in a position to save lives in northern Rhode Island.”
According to the governor’s press release, over 1,800 Rhode Islanders have died as the result of an overdose in the last eight years.
“The solution to this complex problem will require a multi-pronged effort, involving a broad group of stakeholders in health care and beyond. At CVS Health, we have been proactively working with our communities to address this epidemic in a comprehensive way,” said Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, in the statement.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
