Justice Involved Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder
Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) often intersect with the criminal justice system. Access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in correctional facilities has historically been limited. Individuals with OUD are at an increased risk of drug overdose death in the weeks following release from correctional facilities. Access to MOUD, while incarcerated, has been shown to improve outcomes and reduce recidivism post-release. Addressing the barriers associated with providing MOUD is critical in expanding access to treatment for incarcerated individuals.
Objectives:
Review post-release outcomes in correctional facilities when MOUD is not available.
Discuss barriers to implementing MOUD in correctional facilities and understand how treatment reduces the risk of overdose following incarceration.
Describe outcomes associated with recovery and family treatment courts with a focus on one rural Maine alternative sentencing program.
Understand the implementation and evaluation of an extended-release buprenorphine pilot for patients with OUD in a rural Maine jail.
Audience:
Prescribing clinicians and their teams
Continuing Medical Education
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Maine Medical Education Trust and CCSME. The Maine Medical Education Trust is accredited by the Maine Medical Association Committee on Continuing Medical Education and Accreditation to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Contact Hours
1 contact hour for social workers, licensed clinical professional counselors, and behavioral health professionals
1 Category I contact hour for psychologists are provided. CCSME is a pre-approved sponsor and provider of Professional Education Activities for Psychologists.
1 contact hour CHES. CCSME is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.
1 contact hour pending for alcohol and drug counselors from the board of alcohol and drug counselors
Speaker
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Alane O'ConnorDNPAlane O’Connor, DNP is the director of perinatal addiction medicine at Maine Medical Center and is the medical advisor of the Maine Maternal Opioid Misuse (MaineMOM) Initiative, a 5-year, $5 million federal grant to expand access to substance use treatment for pregnant and postpartum individuals in Maine. She also co-chairs Maine’s Opioid Response Clinical Advisory Committee, which advises the Governor’s opioid response director on clinical and public policy issues. Dr. O’Connor has more than 15 years of experience in addiction medicine in a variety of settings including the design and implementation of an extended-release buprenorphine pilot at Somerset County Jail, rapid access to substance use treatment in emergency departments through Maine Medical Association’s Project RISE, as well extensive experience caring for pregnant patients with substance use disorder in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. She lectures regionally and nationally and has trained more than 100 family medicine and obstetric resident physicians. She is a core faculty member of Maine’s only addiction medicine fellowship program. Finally, she has published numerous peer reviewed articles on maternal and infant outcomes of substance exposed pregnancies including the related child welfare implications as well as the care of incarcerated pregnant patients.
