Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration adds five new opioid treatment programs

Medication assisted treatment facilities to open in Allen, Johnson, Monroe, Tippecanoe and Vigo counties

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) announced on July 5, that the agency will add five opioid treatment programs (OTP) as part of the state’s coordinated effort to attack the drug epidemic. Indiana will have 19 OTPs to administer medication assisted treatment or “MAT” to qualifying Hoosiers currently recovering from substance use disorders. The treatment uses FDA-approved medications to help people manage their addiction so that they can maintain the benefits of recovery.

FSSA Secretary Jennifer Walthall, M.D., M.P.H., made the announcement and was joined by Governor Eric J. Holcomb and Jim McClelland, Indiana’s Executive Director for Drug Treatment, Prevention and Enforcement at Valle Vista Health System, a new OTP site in Greenwood. Secretary Walthall also announced beginning Aug. 1, most Indiana Medicaid members, including all Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) members, will have coverage for all services provided in an OTP, including coverage of methadone for substance use disorder.

“Adding five opioid treatment programs to the 14 that currently serve Hoosiers will add considerable capacity to a network of programs that treated more than 10,000 Hoosiers in 2016,” said Dr. Walthall. “Adding Medicaid and HIP coverage of medication assisted treatment will remove a significant barrier to treatment for those seeking to improve their lives.”

In addition to Valle Vista in Johnson County, new OTP certifications have been awarded to the Bowen Center in Allen County, the Hamilton Center in Vigo County and Sycamore Springs, which will have facilities in Monroe and Tippecanoe counties. These OTPs are anticipated to begin offering services by June 30, 2018.
“There is extraordinary evidence that patients receiving medication assisted treatment are more likely to remain in treatment and to reduce opioid use than those who do not,” said Dr. Walthall. “Ensuring medication assisted treatment is an available option to additional Hoosier communities is a significant tool to help attack Indiana’s drug epidemic.”

FSSA used a data-driven approach to determine the locations for the five new treatment centers by reviewing locations of recent overdose deaths, drug-seizure data from law enforcement data from hospital emergency rooms to assist with reducing driving time for individuals in need of treatment. Locations of FSSA's existing OTPs are listed here, and there is one additional site in Indiana operated by the Veterans Administration.

A full copy of Dr. Walthall’s remarks can be found here.