Srinivas Muvvala, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, is playing a key role in the battle against opioid use in Connecticut.
Muvvala is the Yale Principal Investigator for the Connecticut Medication Assisted Treatment "Expansion" (MATx) grant. MATx is a three-year (2016-19), federally funded project intended to make additional treatment resources available to people who suffer from an opioid use disorder.
The Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) is implementing the grant, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Medication Assisted Treatment combines the use of medication and counseling to treat substance use disorders. MATx is offered at four high-risk areas in Connecticut: Plainville/Bristol (The Wheeler Clinic), New Britain (Community Mental Health Affiliates), Torrington (McCall Center for Behavioral Health), and Windham (Community Health Resources).
Muvvala works as the MAT consultant and uses practice facilitation and collaborative learning strategies to work with providers at the four clinics to identify and close treatment gaps, decrease practice variation, and improve access to effective care for people who suffer from opioid use disorders.
He is also using his expertise to educate the staff at CMHC in MAT and overdose prevention to increase competence in the care for people with substance use disorders.