P1047171

Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program - Hope for a Drug Free Stephens Corporation
467 West Doyle Street
Toccoa, GA 30577
Entity Type: Consortium
Facebook: @DRUGFREESTEPHENS

Project Director: Kathy Whitmire, Executive Director
706-491-3493
KFWHITMIRE@GMAIL.COM

Network Name: Stephens County Wellness and Recovery Network
Focus Area: Care Coordination
Proposed Service Region: Stephens County, Georgia
Target Population: 26,175

-The network will serve individuals who are at risk for, have been diagnosed with, and/or are in treatment and/or recovery for opioid and substance use disorders; their families and/or caregivers in Stephens County.

Network/Consortium Partnerships:
- Avita Community Partners
- Georgia Partnership for Telehealth
- Stephens County Hospital and Physicians Group
- North Georgia Physicians Group - Toccoa Clinic
- The Center for Wellness and Recovery

Attestation: 100% of partners are located in a HRSA designated rural area

Experience: Over the past four years, the RCORP grant program has engaged a committed group of stakeholders from all sectors of the community and formed Hope (Heroin Opioid Education & Prevention) for Drug Free Stephens, a not-for-profit corporation. The goal is to bring awareness to the opioid crisis and create a sustainable path forward. The group aims to bring stakeholders together to take the message into the community, educate the medical community, raise awareness of the opioid prescription crisis, educate first responders and equip them with Narcan, increase MAT certified providers and addiction certified counselors, and identify peers that recovered from opioid and substance use disorder and are helping others win the battle.

Through these efforts, the group identified the urgent need for a more formal network as the next step. The group collectively decided to develop a plan to implement an integrated model of care through an integrated behavioral health network. This network will allow clinicians to compliantly share patient information in a central health information system and share behavioral health professionals via the secure GPT telehealth network. The group also aims to leverage negotiating power with Medicaid care management organizations, Medicare Advantage plans, and commercial plans, as well as leverage buying power for supplies and pharmaceuticals.

In addition, this planning effort will leverage the resources of the public and private members of the Hope for a Drug Free Stephens Corporation. This group of stakeholders and board members recently voted to make an application for this HRSA Network Development Planning Grant to provide the resources needed to make this network a reality and ensure a sustainable path for the future.

Hope For A Drug Free Stephens

NOT APPLICABLE

93.912 - Rural Health Care Services Outreach, Rural Health Network Development and Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement

HRSA Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) [HHS - HRSA]

Toccoa, Georgia United States

City-Wide

Rural Health Network Development Planning Program (HRSA-22-059)