GE Foundation today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with
Shatterproof, an organization dedicated to reducing the devastation the
disease of addiction causes families, to reduce the stigma and barriers
that prevent treatment for patients with opioid use disorders (OUD). As
part of the GE Foundation’s commitment to community health and fighting
the opioid crisis in Boston and across Massachusetts, this collaboration
with Shatterproof, collaborating funder RIZE Massachusetts, and the
Massachusetts Medical Society and its physician-led Task Force on Opioid
Therapy, will result in the development of a series of behavior change
interventions to encourage and enable more health care professionals to
screen and treat patients with OUD.
Addiction is a public health crisis that impacts nearly one in three
families across the U.S. Around 21 million people in the U.S struggle
with addiction, yet only 10 percent of those suffering receive any type
of specialty treatment. While there are many contributing factors to
this treatment gap, such as lack of screening in the healthcare system
and access to evidence-based treatment, patients’ fear of shame or
discrimination from healthcare professionals is one of the barriers to
seeking care. In an effort to close the treatment gap, GE Foundation,
RIZE Massachusetts and Shatterproof will partner, along with the
Massachusetts Medical Society to gather insights and reactions from
healthcare professionals with the goal of addressing and reducing the
stigma associated with OUD. By doing so, the organizations aim to help
professionals develop a different approach to screening and treating
patients with OUD, while also empowering those suffering with the
disease to come forward and seek care.
“The opioid crisis is only growing, making it imperative now more
than ever that we work on improving the addiction treatment system,”
said Gary Mendell, Founder & CEO at Shatterproof. “With the help of
GE Foundation, Shatterproof is able to drive behavioral change at the
source of care – professionals. By gatherings these insights,
Massachusetts and other states that follow can begin to reduce the
stigma and shatter the barriers that prevent treatment for OUD
patients.”
In 2016, the GE Foundation announced a $15 million commitment to
community health in Boston and greater Massachusetts to help expand care
in behavioral health and addiction medicine with a focus on the opioid
epidemic. Since kicking off this initiative, the GE Foundation has
worked with several partners to attack the opioid crisis from all
directions, including prevention like Project HERE with Mass. Attorney General, Maura Healy, risk reduction like the CareZone mobile health van with the Kraft Center and MGH, and treatment and recovery like SUSTAIN (Substance Use Support and Technical Assistance IN Communities) with Mass. League of Community Health Centers, and now stigma.
“As we continue to invest in ways to combat the opioid crisis
gripping our community, it’s become clear that addressing the stigma
associated with OUD is the next step in this fight,” said Ann R. Klee,
President of GE Foundation. “The GE Foundation is focused on improving
access to care and bridging the treatment gap between health care
professionals and patients. This collaboration helps us attack the
crisis from all angles.”
RIZE Massachusetts, an independent nonprofit created to end the
opioid epidemic in Massachusetts, is a collaborating funder of the
quantitative analysis portion of the partnership. In its efforts to
create data on the presence of stigma in the health care workforce, RIZE
will work with the appropriate organizations to develop a quantitative
analysis of stigma present in the health care providers treating
patients with OUD.
“We can continue to improve the care of people with opioid use
disorder by understanding more about the presence of stigma and its
effect on everyone involved in the treatment and recovery process,” said
Julie Burns, Executive Director of RIZE Massachusetts. “RIZE
Massachusetts is committed to zero stigma related to opioid use
disorder, and being a funding partner with GE Foundation and
Shatterproof, on this important research advances our shared goal of
increasing the accessibility and effectiveness of treatment across the
health care system.”
The Massachusetts Medical Society has been an expert voice in efforts
to mitigate the public health crisis born of the opioid epidemic. The
organization developed the state’s opioid prescribing guidelines and
continues to push for the expanded availability of and training on
administering of naloxone. It has also provided opioid-focused
continuing medical education courses at no cost to more than 15,000
professionals and has advocated in the Commonwealth and federally for
the establishment of a pilot supervised injection facility.
“The Massachusetts Medical Society is pleased to be working with GE
Foundation to conduct a needs assessment of physicians and other health
care professionals to determine how clinical, educational and
administrative burdens, as well as stigma, can be barriers to MAT
prescribing, and how to best overcome those barriers,” MMS President Dr.
Alain A. Chaoui said. “Improving patients access to medication assisted
treatment for substance use disorder is a priority for our
organization. MMS is focusing on supporting and encouraging physicians
and other health care professionals to prescribe medication assisted
treatment for their patients. Although many programs are underway
within academic medical centers, community health centers and hospitals,
we believe more support is needed to help expand the prescribing of MAT
by individual prescribers in the community.”
