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program that funds consortiums in the 252 counties and parishes in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee in the Delta Region to develop healthcare services, health education programs, healthcare job training programs and the development and expansion of public health-related facilities. Additionally, the cooperative model provides a unique approach for healthcare and SUD treatment, and Rural Development provides both financial and technical assistance support for cooperative development. For example, the Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program offers grants to nonprofit corporations and institutions of higher education to operate Rural Cooperative Development Centers that serve communities with a population of 50,000 or less. The Socially Disadvantaged Group Grants Program also supports technical assistance to socially disadvantaged groups through cooperatives and Cooperative Development Centers serving rural communities of 50,000 or less. With the variety of programs that can support treatment services and infrastructure, federal agencies should work with stakeholders to raise awareness and help increase use of these programs to support treatment services. C. Prioritize Efforts to Build Capacity in the behavioral health workforce. (Agency Involved: HHS/CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA) The Department of Health and Human Services should prioritize efforts to advance capacity building in the behavioral health workforce to be responsive to the increasing mental health and SUD workforce needs through programs that provide scholarships, « « « « « « 58 NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY loan reimbursement, and fellowships in the behavioral health professions to increase workforce capacity. This should include continued support of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship program. All workforce recruitment efforts should be designed to address equity, diversity inclusion and accessibility. D. Develop addiction curriculum for medical, public health, and nursing schools. (Agencies Involved: HHS/HRSA, SAMHSA) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and HRSA—in collaboration with the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, and the American Nurses Association—should establish a core curriculum on SUD studies for all medical, public health, and nursing schools so that every student is educated on SUD and has basic knowledge of strategies to identify, assess, intervene, and treat addiction, as well as support recovery. This will build on work started by AAMC in 2019 working with medical schools to develop core curriculum to advance educational content related to pain and addiction. To the extent practicable, HRSA should consider including this core curriculum as a requirement for schools applying for fellowships and grants for licensed practitioners. E. Train nurses, psychologists, pharmacists and social workers to care for people with substance use disorders. (Agencies Involved: HHS/HRSA, SAMHSA; ONDCP) The federal government should work with leadership of these disciplines to request that they set goals for tracking their workforce’s engagement in SUD treatment and training for it. These professionals engage with people who have SUD regularly. With training, nurses, pharmacists and psychologists who prescribe may also be in position to offer quality treatment—including MOUD—as part of workforce expansion although new authorities would be needed for these prescriber categories. F. Examine models for office-based buprenorphine treatment to address financial disincentives. (Agency Involved: HHS) Research suggests some office-based buprenorphine models do not reimburse providers enough to make a business case for delivering care.248 Research reinforces that persistent provider workforce barriers to buprenorphine provision include insufficient training and education on opioid use disorder treatment, lack of institutional and clinician peer support, poor care coordination, provider stigma, inadequate reimbursement from private and public insurers, and regulatory hurdles to obtain the waiver needed to prescribe buprenorphine in non-addiction specialty treatment settings.249 The Administration should examine this research and consider developing models that improve incentives to provide care. G. Extend telemedicine flexibilities across state lines. (Agency Involved: DOJ/DEA; HHS) During the COVID-19 pandemic, the DEA temporarily waived the requirements that providers be licensed in the same state as a patient whom they serve via telemedicine. Now, many providers offer treatment via telemedicine to patients who live nearby but in another state. However, at the end of the pandemic, this may change. Federal agencies should work with Congress to establish a mechanism with appropriate safeguards for providers to engage in controlled substance prescribing across state lines by telemedicine, « « « « « « NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY 59 and address licensing and payment obstacles across state lines for professionals and paraprofessionals through federal guidance/oversight/incentives to encourage states to allow interstate licensing reciprocity which would require 

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