FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 7, 2010
SAMHSA Awards Grant to American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry for Program to Help Physicians Treat Opioid Addictions
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced it is awarding the Physician Clinical Support System for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders (PCSS) cooperative agreement grant to the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry based in Providence, Rhode Island. The grant is projected to provide up to a total of $1.5 million in funding over the course of three years.
The grant program is intended to further develop the current DATA Physician Clinical Support System. The system is used to assist physicians who are treating patients dependent on heroin or prescription opioid drugs with FDA-approved products containing buprenorphine.
To help instruct physicians the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry plans to implement a 4-hour self-training and examination program on state-of-the-art approaches to opioid addiction assessment and treatment. The program also involves a follow-up 4-hour, one-on-one training session with an experienced instructor/practitioner who will mentor their trainees on an ongoing basis.
“This program addresses the problem of opioid disorders -- including the pervasive misuse of prescription opioids -- by providing cutting edge tools to physicians treating patients struggling with opioid addiction,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. “It is another example of how SAMHSA is working with the general health care system to bring addiction medicine into the mainstream.”
The current SAMHSA-funded PCSS is supported by 70 mentors, 5 clinical experts and a medical director. Its primary target audience includes primary care physicians, pain specialists, psychiatrists and other non-addiction medical practitioners who treat opioid dependent patients and are less familiar with opioid dependence treatment than addictions specialists. However, addictions specialists will also be encouraged to participate in the PCSS or serve as mentors for physicians desiring to treat opioid dependent patients with buprenorphine products.
This program is part of SAMHSA’s strategic initiative on Behavioral Health Workforce – In Primary and Specialty Care Settings. The initiative is designed to address workforce development issues affecting the behavioral health and general health service delivery community. This grant it is projected to provide the grantee with up to $500,000 in funding annually for up to three years. Continuation awards are subject to availability of funds and progress achieved by the grantee.
For further information about these grants and other SAMHSA programs, visit http://www.samhsa.gov/.

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities.
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