Bucks County Opioid Task Force Lays Out 'Roadmap' For Settlement Funds

DOYLESTOWN, PA - Bucks County’s Opioid Advisory Committee (OAC) has announced its 18-year “roadmap” for the allocation of $45 million in funding the county will be receiving from a lawsuit against several opioid giants.

Speaking at a commissioners’ meeting earlier this month, OAC Chair and Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission, Inc., Executive Director Diane Rosati said the proposed uses of the funds target prevention, treatment and recovery supports, as well as project oversight and evaluation.

Out of the proposed 23 initiatives outlined in the plan, 12 are new initiatives and 11 are existing initiatives that the committee is recommending for expansion.

"As the plan was crafted, there was recognition that Bucks County should both dedicate resources to services that have proven to be effective and that we should think expansively as to how we can further support our community with added services," said Rosati.

One key proposal includes plans for a behavioral health crisis center to be built on the grounds of the Doylestown Hospital that would be managed by Lenape Valley Foundation along with various providers. Plans are being developed in partnership with the county, law enforcement and provider partners, Rosati said, with an initial proposed commitment of $900,000 in settlement funds.

“The Stabilization Unit is intended to provide an immediate location where individuals can go when experiencing a behavioral health crisis so that the proper services and supports can be offered,” said Rosati.

Part of the goal in establishing a Stabilization Unit is to decrease barriers in accessing immediate treatment, she said. The unit would provide evening/off hours peer support and relapse prevention drop in and assessment services.

Other projects, Rosati said, include a “significant push” to expand the distribution of the overdose reversing drug naloxone (commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan), a partnership with Children and Youth Social Services Agency to provide housing for women and children and a new “mobile prevention education unit” similar to one already in use in Bensalem.

Funding is also allocated for increasing the length of stay in treatment “so that those who need it can remain in treatment for as long as they need,” said Rosati.

Several new initiatives include: establishing transportation to and from drug/alcohol services at a cost of $75,000 “to ensure that residents have access to getting to drug and alcohol treatment and services.”

Funding would also be made available for community-based mini-grants; a media campaign to bring awareness of drug trends and where to go for help to the community; and the expansion of its website to give families a place to turn to for help and vital information.

Other allocations would fund the expansion of existing services including $60,000 for recovery housing; $200,00 for Peer Support and Case Management; $150,000 for Warm Handoff for Individuals Surviving Overdose; $100,000 for Outreach and Mobile Engagement Services; and $150,000 for Jail Medication Assisted Treatment.

In addition, $200,000 would be used to expand the county’s highly successful Co-Responder Program to an Upper Bucks community.

Funding is also earmarked for a drug court staffing position; drug testing strips; and grand family resources for residents who are raising their grandchildren because their son or daughter has died from an opioid overdose.

“This is a great roadmap for the county to follow over the next 18 years,” said Commissioner Bob Harvie, who created the committee in the spring to give recommendations on uses of the settlement funds.

In addition to the perspectives of the diverse slate of committee members, Rosati said the group relied on input from county residents, as well as drug and drug and alcohol service providers and stakeholders when crafting its recommendations into what she called a “solid and transparent plan” for the funding.

The OAC will continue to provide advice on use of settlement funds, of which the county expects to receive about $45 million over 18 years.

According to the state Office of Attorney General, the settlement with opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson resulted from investigations into the companies’ alleged illegal and misleading business practices that helped fuel the opioid addiction crisis.

“Over the past few decades, our country has been ravaged by an opioid epidemic that kills tens of thousands of people every year,” Harvie said. “There are some guilty parties seeing their days in court, and there is some justice being served to some level.”

As plans are further developed, projects proposed by the OAC will begin to appear on commissioners’ meeting agendas to be voted on by the Board of Commissioners.

Click here to view the committee’s full report. You can also watch Rosati’s presentation to the Commissioners on buckscounty.gov, YouTube or Facebook.