Supplements
Model Programs to Consider Funding to Replicate in Connecticut
Appendix A of the 2024 CORE report describes evidence-based programs that may merit funding in Connecticut, including:
- The CA Bridge Model of Low-Barrier Buprenorphine Treatment in Emergency Departments
- Life Skills Training and Project Toward No Drug Abuse
- The Maryland Addiction Consultation Service (MACS)
- The Massachusetts Chapter 55 Public Health Data Warehouse
- Multidimensional Family Therapy Helping Youth and Parents Enter Recovery Treatment Model (MDFT-HYPE Recovery)
- OnPoint NYC
- Physician Clinical Support System – Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (PCSS-MOUD)
- Project ASSERT
- Project ECHO
- Recovery Support Services
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Housing First Initiatives
- Vermont Hub and Spoke Model
Strategies that Should Not Be Funded
Appendix B of the 2024 CORE report describes strategies that are not supported by available evidence and do not reflect effective use of opioid settlement funds to address and reduce harms of the opioid overdose crisis. These include:
- Increasing the proportion of people with opioid use disorder who are exclusively receiving “detoxification,” inpatient, or residential services as treatment
- Increasing the number of programs that exclusively or preferentially treat people with naltrexone (instead of methadone or buprenorphine)
- Enhancing criminal legal efforts to reduce the illicit drug supply
- Increasing use of mandated addiction treatment or civil commitment
- Increasing investment in novel formulations or new medications to reverse opioid overdoses
- Funding primary prevention programs targeting youth substance use that are not based on evidence of efficacy or are not tied to ongoing rigorous evaluation
- Funding public health programs or campaigns that are not based on evidence of efficacy
Public Comments on the 2023 CORE Report Draft That Require Regulatory or Statutory Change
The 2024 CORE report includes only those strategies considered feasible under regulations and laws, whether at the state or federal level, that currently govern Connecticut. This does not preclude potential changes to statute or regulation, supported by strong evidence, which may help achieve the priorities laid out in this report and may require funding. Public comments received on the initial draft of this report issued in fall of 2023 included several recommendations that would require a regulatory or statutory change. Appendix C details these recommendations, which include:
- Provision of mobile methadone dispensation
- Provision of pharmacy and office-based methadone prescribing
- Revisions to restrictions and limitations around take-home methadone doses, opioid treatment program staffing, and counseling requirements for people on methadone
- Implementation of overdose prevention centers
- Revision of reimbursement policies and billing codes for substance use and substance use disorder related services