BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
Bradford County wants its allocation from lawsuit settlements with drug companies to go toward the prevention and treatment of opioid addiction.
Shelley Katz, chief operating officer for LSF Health Systems, and Erin Whitaker-Houck, associate vice president of clinical program operations, recently spoke to the county commission about their role in making that happen..
LSF Health Systems is one of seven behavioral health managing entities contracted by the Florida Department of Children and Families to manage the state-funded system of behavioral health care for people who face poverty and are without insurance.
Services provided through contracted behavioral health care providers include prevention, intervention, treatment and care coordination to support optimal recovery. The managing entity’s jurisdiction covers 23 north Florida counties, including Bradford, Union and Clay.
Many of the dollars from these lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors are being funneled through the attorney general’s office from a number of sources, according to Katz. LSF and other entities contracted with the state manage those funds, at least for counties like Bradford with populations under 300,000. Some of the funding is allocated to counties specifically, and other amounts can be used as needed across all 23 counties.
Bradford’s first allocation through LSF is just over $321,000.
The settlement outlines a number of goals, the priority being expanding the availability of treatment. That includes medication-assisted treatment, coordinating treatment through a network of providers, hospital bridge programs, and peer support and community recovery organizations.
“Using the valuable experience that individuals who have walked the road of recovery from addiction to support others that are beginning that journey is a really, really effective process,” Katz said.
Comprehensive, wrap-around services must be evidence based and address multiple problems that prevent successful recovery, such as access to transportation or housing. Attention will also be paid to workforce development for addiction specialists and reducing the stigma for seeking treatment and support.
In order for there to be a return on the investment of these dollars, Katz said they want to make sure people are receiving the assistance they need.
Unlike the other behavioral health services they manage, these dollars are not tied to one’s income or insurance status, Katz said. The funding is to provide care for anyone with opioid use disorder or anyone at risk of developing opioid use disorder. That includes providing medication-assisted treatment, which she said is the most effective means of treating opioid addiction.
LSF has a built a network of 78 providers, the largest in Bradford County being a familiar name — Meridian Behavioral Healthcare. Katz and Whitaker-Houck said their role is to work with the county in determining how best to utilize its allocation.
“We can identify and work with you on your plan in terms of where you’d like those dollars to go making sure that they get into contracts, take care of the data recording and all of those things that are going to be required through the state,” Whitaker-Houck said. The Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement — which Commissioner Chris Dougherty serves on — will be monitoring outcomes over the 18-year term of the settlement. The amount of money available to counties will, however, taper off over time.
It will be up to the county to develop a plan for the use of these dollars, at which point LSF can assist with procurement, contracts, etc.
The county also directly received more than $130,000 for 2022 and 2023 that it can use toward addressing the opioid epidemic. Board Chair Carolyn Spooner said the LSF and the clerk’s office should coordinate the use of these dollars once the board has decided on an action plan.
Nonfatal emergency room visits due to drug overdoses totaled 48 in Bradford County in 2021, 22 in Union County and 553 in Clay County. Most of these overdoses were unintentional, i.e. not intending to inflict self-harm. Bradford had two overdose deaths. Clay had 28.
