Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act: Section 1003

Demonstration Project to Increase Substance Use Provider Capacity

On October 24, 2018, the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act became law. Under section 1003 of the SUPPORT Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in consultation with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, is conducting a 54-month demonstration project to increase the treatment capacity of Medicaid providers to deliver substance use disorder treatment and recovery services. The demonstration project includes:

• Planning grants awarded to 15 states ($50 million aggregate) for 18 months; and
• 36-month demonstrations with up to 5 states that received planning grants.

States participating in the 36-month demonstration will receive enhanced federal reimbursement for increases in Medicaid expenditures for substance use disorder treatment and recovery services.

Planning Grants

The purpose of planning grants is to increase the capacity of Medicaid providers to deliver substance use disorder treatment or recovery services through:

• An ongoing assessment of the substance use disorder treatment needs of the state;
• Recruitment, training, and technical assistance for Medicaid providers that offer substance use disorder treatment or recovery services; and
• Improved reimbursement for and expansion of the number or treatment capacity of Medicaid providers.

The following State Medicaid Agencies were awarded 18-month planning grants in September 2019: Alabama (PDF, 17.94 KB), Connecticut (PDF, 65.41 KB), Delaware (PDF, 66.52 KB), District of Columbia (PDF, 42.33 KB), Illinois (PDF, 42.92 KB), Indiana (PDF, 42.06 KB), Kentucky (PDF, 42.2 KB), Maine (PDF, 65.52 KB), Michigan (PDF, 18.86 KB), Nevada (PDF, 42.48 KB), New Mexico (PDF, 42.74 KB), Rhode Island (PDF, 65.87 KB), Virginia (PDF, 64.59 KB), Washington (PDF, 19.16 KB), and West Virginia (PDF, 65.31 KB).

Planning Grant Award Video 

State Medicaid Agency Recipients

Additional Information

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Resources

• Technology Transfer Centers (TTC) Program: The purpose of the Technology Transfer Centers (TTC) is to develop and strengthen the specialized behavioral healthcare and primary healthcare workforce that provides prevention, treatment and recovery support services for substance use disorder (SUD) and mental illness.
• Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center: This new Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center aims to provide communities, clinicians, policy-makers and others in the field with the information and tools they need to incorporate evidence-based practices into their communities or clinical settings. The Resource Center contains a collection of scientifically-based resources for a broad range of audiences, including Treatment Improvement Protocols, toolkits, resource guides, clinical practice guidelines, and other science-based resources.
• Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator: The Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator is a confidential and anonymous source of information for persons seeking treatment facilities in the United States or U.S. Territories for substance use/addiction and/or mental health problems.

Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) Resources

The AHRQ Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care has developed several resources for providers treating opioid use disorder in primary care practices, including

• Tools and Resources for Implementing Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural Primary Care, a compendium of over 350 tools and resources available to providers, patients, and communities to help implement MAT in rural primary care and other ambulatory care settings. These tools are categorized by topic and address the full spectrum of needs for patients with or at risk for OUD, including OUD awareness and education prevention, MAT training and education, MAT implementation, and overdose.
• Six Building Blocks is a structured systems-based approach for improving management of patients on chronic opioid therapy. The Six Building Blocks program provides an evidence-based quality improvement roadmap to help primary care teams implement effective, guideline-driven care for their chronic pain and long-term opioid therapy patients.
• AHRQ’s Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (MAT for OUD) Playbook serves as a comprehensive guide for implementing MAT in primary care and other ambulatory care settings. The online, interactive playbook contains the latest guidance, tools and resources to address MAT implementation. Released with the playbook is AHRQ’s Medication-Assisted Treatment Tools and Resources Collection, a searchable resource organized by topic to address a broad spectrum of patient and community needs. Materials in the collection were identified through systematic searches of published and gray literature, as well as searches for specific tools to implement MAT. 

For more information about this demonstration project, contact SubstanceUseProviderCapacity@cms.hhs.gov.