News & Updates — Webinar

The federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 (PHE) has transformed dramatically the landscape for opioid use disorder and other drug treatment in the United States. In the early months of the pandemic, the federal government used the PHE to give broad flexibility to states and providers to dispense with traditional restrictions on the use of telehealth, allow Opioid Treatment Providers to offer take-home doses of methadone, and adopt a series of other changes to simplify access to treatment. At the same time, the pandemic brought to the fore the importance of harm reduction strategies. More people used drugs in isolation where the risk of overdose and death increased. As the pandemic continued and even as it began to ease, the drug supply and usage patterns continued to change in dangerous and unpredictable ways. Now, with the Public Health Emergency ending on May 11th, 2023, it is a critical moment to take stock of what the end of the PHE will mean for OUD treatment.

Please join us on Tuesday, May 16th at 3pm EST as we hear from national experts — inside and outside of government — as well as frontline providers and consumer representatives about the following topics:

• The regulatory landscape after the end of the PHE, including where we are now with respect to using telehealth to provide OUD treatment and prescribe medications, taking into account the end of the PHE and recent legislative activity in Congress to eliminate the X-waiver,
• State responses to the end of the PHE as they navigate the end of flexibilities linked to the PHE, identify ways to take advantage of the flexibilities that remain, and respond to the ever-changing drug supply and nature of opioid use disorders,
• Provider perspectives on what it is like to provide OUD treatment after the end of the PHE, reflecting both changes in rules and policies, but also the way that treatment patterns evolved in response to the pandemic, and
• Consumer experiences with OUD treatment in the post-PHE era and what hurts in the current landscape and what helps, especially through the lens of effective harm reduction.

Speakers

Beth Connolly, MPA, Assistant Director
Office of Public Health, Office of National Drug Control Policy
Executive Office of the President

Andrew Herring, MD, Director of Research & Attending Emergency Physician
FORE Grantee: California Bridge
Project: California Bridge Emergency Department MOUD Initiative

Danielle Russell, PhD
Arizona State University
FORE Grantee: University of Arizona
Project: Evidence for Action: COVID-19 as a Window of Opportunity to Normalize Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Access

Hemi Tewarson, JD, MPH, Executive Director
FORE Grantee: National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)
Project: Supporting State Policy in Responding to the Opioid Crisis

The webinar will run until 4:30pm to allow for an extended discussion and Q&A session following the presentation.

Register for the Webinar Here

We invite you to look at our Resources page for the most up-to-date information and guidance. You can view a recording of our previous webinars below. As always, please reach out with questions and/or resources that you believe would benefits others.