Mar 3, 2018 3 min read

Saying that he wants to get more people suffering with opioid use disorder into treatment sooner and engaged in treatment longer, Gov. Tom Wolf Wednesday announced success stories of 45 treatment centers he called “Centers of Excellence.”

On the same morning, Jason Bercini, fiscal manager of Washington County’s Human Services Department, filled in the county commissioners about the Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services Care Center receiving an additional $500,000 from state taxpayers to continue as part of the Centers of Excellence program.

Wolf visited the center in Washington in July 2016 as he prepared to launch 20 Centers of Excellence and announced $330,000 in funding for the local center. It later received another $170,000. Later that summer, Wolf’s administration also named SPHS Care Center in Monessen as a Center of Excellence.

Beginning June 30 of this year, SPHS Care Center will be receiving the $500,000 grant, which covers a time span through June 30, 2019. The center in Monessen also is expected to receive a $500,000 grant, through Westmoreland County.

“Centers of Excellence have proven themselves to be a critical part of our efforts to improve treatment for people suffering with opioid use disorder,” Wolf said in a news release.

“It is critical that we continue to do everything we can to combat this epidemic and, with these centers, individuals … have access to treatment in their communities for the whole person, instead of just the disease.”

According to statistics provided by SPHS Care Center, 377 people have gone to its Washington center for help, and 445 have gone to its Mon Valley center.

According to the governor, as few as 48 percent of Medicaid patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder were receiving treatment before the 45 Centers of Excellence were in operation.

Centers of Excellence provide team-based treatment with a goal of integrating behavioral health and primary care. The centers’ care managers work to keep people with opioid use disorder in treatment by coordinating follow-up care and community supports.

Kellie McKevitt, executive director of SPHS Behavioral Health Services, said she has worked in this field for 27 years and mentioned a recent discussion at the Mon Valley Area Opioid Coalition meeting.

Monessen police Chief Jim Smith, co-chair of the coalition, reported his department is seeing a decline in opioid-related overdose deaths.

Smith said Friday, “We are also seeing a decline in the number of opioid-related overdoses that we are responding to, likely due to the prevalence of naloxone kits,” commonly referred to by the trade name Narcan.

“I believe a concerted effort in the decline is the work of many law enforcement agencies, cutting the supply of fentanyl and heroin in this area,” Smith added.

McKevitt also noted the Washington County Opioid Overdose Coalition, a countywide collaborative encompassing several organizations, including the SPHS Care Center, recently received the national Red Ribbon Award from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration for its work to reduce overdose deaths in local communities.

Washington County commissioners Thursday approved an agreement with the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission Inc. to administer the Centers of Excellence program.

Wolf and state agencies have been working with the Legislature to establish a new law limiting the number of opioids that can be prescribed to a minor and to individuals discharged from emergency rooms to a seven-day supply; strengthening the prescription drug monitoring program through the legislative process so doctors are required and able to check the system each time they prescribe opioids and benzodiazepines; and forming new guidelines specific to orthopedics and sports medicine.