The goal of this toolkit is to provide a basic framework for EDs that want to build or strengthen their OUD treatment programs and to offer Oregon-specific resources and examples that can help support their success.

Opioid use disorder is treatable with medication and support, but rates in the US have reached epidemic proportions. Emergency departments are uniquely positioned to offer buprenorphine, an evidence-based life-saving treatment, when patients are most open to receiving it, but few currently offer it.

The emergency department (ED) is an ideal setting for opioid overdose death prevention through the distribution or prescribing of naloxone rescue kits, overdose prevention and response education.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is treatable with medication and/or psychosocial interventions, but rates are increasing and patients with AUD rarely receive the treatment they need.

As part of those efforts and efforts to address the overdose crisis in Oregon, OHLC’s Substance Use Disorder Workgroup is developing a toolkit to support emergency departments build and sustain medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) initiation programs.

Peer support specialists, also known as Certified Recovery Mentors or peers, are people trained to provide recovery support based on their own lived experience of substance use and/or mental health disorder and recovery.