States’ use of grant funding for a targeted response to the opioid crisis
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Report in brief. (United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General)
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General. Office of Evaluation and Inspections. issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, March 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Financing, Government -- legislation & jurisprudence Government Regulation Opioid Epidemic -- statistics & numerical data United States United States. Department of Health and Human Services
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Why OIG Did This Review. To address the increased need for treatment services, the 21st Century Cures Act established the STR grant program. Through this program, SAMHSA awarded almost $1 billion in grants to States over a 2-year grant period (May 2017 through April 2019). States were required to use these funds to: (1) expand access to evidence-based treatment for OUD, especially MAT; (2) reduce unmet treatment needs; and (3) reduce opioid overdose-related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery support services. How OIG did this review. For 56 States and territories that received STR grants, we examined how much of each State’s award remained unspent at the end of the first and second years of the grant period. We also reviewed progress reports to determine how States used STR grant funds to expand access to OUD prevention, evidence-based treatment, and recovery support services. We also reviewed the number of patients who received OUD treatment and recovery services through STR-funded activities. What OIG found. More than $300 million—almost a third of the total nationwide grant funding for the State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis grant program (STR grant program)—remained unspent after 2 years. Among individual States, 14 spent less than half of their respective grant allocations. In total, all but six States requested no-cost extensions that will allow them up to an additional 12 months to spend their original STR funding. States attributed spending delays primarily to challenges related to State procurement processes. Additionally, several States are in danger of exceeding the legislatively mandated 5-percent cap on administrative costs. Across all States, 65 percent of spending was devoted to improving access to treatment in general for opioid use disorder (OUD), and as a result, States reported that the number of patients receiving any type of OUD treatment increased substantially during the grant period. However, although the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) required States to use STR grant funds to implement or expand access specifically to evidence-based OUD treatment—particularly, medication-assisted treatment (MAT)—the agency did not collect data on how many patients specifically received MAT versus other types of treatment (i.e., detoxification or abstinence-based treatment). Given the lack of data, it is unclear how successful the STR grant program was at achieving its goal of expanded access to MAT. Without such data, SAMHSA has limited means to monitor whether the money spent through the STR grant program, or other future grant programs, is helping patients obtain effective, evidence-based treatment for OUD.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (24 pages, 2 unnumbered pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918284253106676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918284253106676