2021 COMBAT Funding: $100,286.00

In KC CARE's Own Words

The purpose of KC CARE Health Center’s Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program is to engage patients with opioid use disorder in ongoing and coordinated outpatient care to reduce their abuse of opioids through the monitored use of buprenorphine, integrated with behavioral health care. 

Reducing Use & Overdoses

Goals for KC CARE’s MAT program include reduced opioid use disorder and accidental opioid overdose and death in the greater Kansas City area through on-going and monitored prescription of buprenorphine of at least 40 patients in 2021.

Holisitic Care

Locally and across the country, the opioid epidemic is growing, and rates of opioid use disorder and accidental overdose and death are on the rise. KC CARE’s nascent MAT program can grow local capacity for outpatient MAT and integrated healthcare -- an intervention model meant to engage a patient in holistic care. There is a particular community need for MAT integrated into primary medical care for the underserved. KC CARE is uniquely situated to fill this role.

Retention

Patient engagement and retention in MAT is perhaps the largest prevalent risk factor KC CARE will work to address. MAT requires frequent appointments with clinician and trips to the pharmacy, which creates issues with retention. 

To overcome patient engagement challenges, KC CARE’s MAT program will center on a multidisciplinary care team who will provide care coordination such as patient outreach and screenings for barriers to care to ensure patients remain in care. 

Ongoing Monitored Care

Ultimately, the goal of the MAT program is to reduce opioid use disorder and accidental opioid overdose and death in the greater Kansas City area. On a patient level, we want our patients to have ongoing and monitored care for their opioid addiction as though it were a chronic condition requiring regular maintenance.

Medication-Assisted Therapy in an integrated, outpatient medical setting is our primary strategy. KC CARE has a history of deploying multidisciplinary care teams for other disease states (e.g., HIV and Hepatitis C). We want to replicate this team-based care coordination for our MAT patients.