The Utah Rural Opioid Healthcare Consortium - Collaborative Care Model (UROHC-CCM) focuses on reducing opioid usage and dependence in Carbon, Emery, Grand, and Wayne Counties, three sparsely populated areas in east-central Utah that have some of the highest rates of opioid-related deaths in the state. 

Carbon, Emery, Grand and Wayne Counties have only 14 health centers and clinics that offer varying levels of behavioral health and substance abuse care. These facilities are scattered across about 14,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut combined. As a result, individuals seeking care for opioid dependence often must travel an hour or more to receive counseling or treatment.

To help address this gap in care, the Consortium supports the education and training of collaborative care teams to deliver office-based addiction treatment at six of the region’s family practice clinics. These teams, working in consultation with addiction recovery specialists at U of U Health, will deliver outpatient addiction treatment and serve as the primary contact for each patient. 

Doctors, nurses, social workers, behavioral health therapists, and other members of the health care team will receive online training and participate in webinars that will help them implement strategies that promote reductions in opioid dependence.

In addition, the Consortium provides mental health first aid training to emergency responders, teachers, families, and concerned citizens. The training teaches them ways to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone in crisis who may be developing a mental health or substance abuse problem.

Consortium providers offers access to the Strengthening Families program, an evidence-based family skills training program for high-risk families that promotes family bonding, positive communication, healthy friendships, and other useful behavioral tools. Together, these skills can lower the risk of substance abuse in later life, Edelman says.

The Consortium also hosts an annual summit for medical, nursing, pharmacy and other health care students that will offer training in substance abuse recognition and treatment in rural settings.