DSHS Hosts Presentation on Medication to Treat Opioid Use Disorder

NEWS ADVISORY

June 20, 2019

What

A presentation on GetWaiveredTX, a DSHS program to expand the tools available to health care providers for opioid treatment.

Who

Jennifer S. Potter, PhD, MPH, a national expert in the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders. Dr. Potter is Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Dean for Research in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Her research focuses on opioid use disorder and chronic pain in civilian and military populations.

When

Monday, June 24
10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
EDITORS: Dr. Potter will be available for interviews following her presentation.

Where

DSHS Main Campus
1100 W. 49th Street, Room K-100
Austin, TX

Background

GetWaiveredTX is an effort to increase the number of doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners permitted to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication that can help people quit using heroin or opioids. Medical practitioners are required to get a special federal waiver in order to prescribe the medication. GetWaiveredTX is part of a $2.6 million grant DSHS received from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a public health response to the opioid epidemic.

Topics include

• A description and preliminary outcomes of buprenorphine treatment and GetWaiveredTX
• Barriers and facilitators of buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder in Texas
• Strategies to support medical professionals in Texas to ensure access to evidence-based addiction treatment and promote sustainability
• How implementation science and behavioral economics may be applied to rapidly address a public health crisis

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(News Media Contact: Lara Anton, DSHS Press Officer, 512-776-7753)