![]() “These treatment systems are so inadequate for a lot of these populations,” said Dr. That means that patients who might benefit from medical detox, as opposed to social detox, have to travel to access an in-patient program, which can be challenging if a patient lacks the financial resources to do so. Whereas other counties in California offer residential medical detox programs, Alameda County lacks any such facility. “Hospitals can’t hire people if they know that the funding is going to run out in a year,” he said.Īs a result, the program options for people with substance use disorder in Alameda County are more limited than they could be. Because funding is so often offered on short-term bases, the progress Herring and his colleagues can make with a single grant stalls when the money runs out. “It’s like a nation-building project,” Herring said, pointing to the many twelve- and eighteen-month grants that have driven much of his work. “It’s not some big shocker that the treatment of substance use disorder has suffered from stigma and underfunding,” he said. While Herring and his colleagues are excited about the opportunities for care that these new developments will offer, he acknowledges that getting reliable funding and approval for treating substance use disorder is a bumpy road, with obstacles that are often rooted in bias. Both treatments assume that many patients will relapse, which addiction professionals emphasize is a critical part of the healing process. The second is a Highland Hospital-based clinical trial for medication-assisted meth use disorder treatment. At least three East Bay providers will offer contingency management therapy. The first, known as ‘contingency management’, is a highly-effective, evidence-based behavioral therapy for meth and stimulant use disorder. This year, new treatment options for people who have meth use disorder will be coming to Alameda County. At Highland and elsewhere, the only real treatment option that has historically been available to patients addicted to meth has been psychotherapy-until now. Soon, it expanded to treat patients with alcohol, methamphetamine, and other substance use disorders, as well.īut whereas patients with opioid or alcohol use disorders have medication-assisted treatment options, there are not yet any FDA-approved medications for people who suffer from meth and other stimulant use disorders. Initially, Highland Bridge Clinic focused on providing the drug buprenorphine to treat patients suffering from opioid addiction. This approach was inspired by a 2015 Yale School of Medicine study and kick-started with a California Health Care Foundation grant. The main idea behind the new clinic was to initiate medication-assisted substance use disorder treatment the same day patients arrived in the Emergency Department, instead of waiting until days after when a person might be hard to contact or not as open to treatment. Andrew Herring, an emergency medicine doctor and director of research at Oakland’s Highland Hospital, took on his biggest project yet: starting a patient-centered, open-access clinic for Oaklanders with substance use disorder looking for treatment. If you’re new to the story, start with our first piece to understand the basics of the crisis. This is the third story in a three-part series examining the realities of methamphetamine use in Oakland and efforts to address this growing public health crisis.
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