Clinical pharmacists working in behavioral health provide a variety of services, from ensuring medication optimization and delivering patient/caregiver education to reducing opioid overprescribing and collaborating with other health care practitioners in the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders in medication-assisted treatment programs. ACCP has partnered with several other organizations, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, to support the goals of expanding behavioral health services and treatment of substance use disorders and providing opportunities for the College’s members to participate in this work.
As the agency within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services charged with leading public health initiatives related to behavioral health, SAMHSA aims to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on communities throughout the country. Its work is guided by five core principles: (1) support for the adoption of evidence-based practices; (2) increased access to services for behavioral health and substance use disorders; (3) engagement in outreach to clinicians, patients, and the public; (4) collection, analysis, and dissemination of data to inform policies, programs, and practices; and (5) recognition that the availability of behavioral health and substance use disorder services is integral to health.
Although known to most health care practitioners for its online substance abuse disorder treatment program locator and extensive range of training programs, SAMHSA also provides annual funding opportunities on the basis of the five priorities outlined in its current strategic plan:
- Combating the opioid crisis through expanding prevention, treatment, and recovery support services
- Addressing serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbances
- Advancing prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for substance use
- Improving data collection, analysis, dissemination, and program and policy evaluation
- Strengthening health practitioner training and education
SAMHSA funding opportunities for 2020 cover a wide range of topics related to these priorities, including expanding education on substance use disorders for health care practitioners in training, promoting and integrating behavioral health care into the primary care setting, and improving tribal behavioral health and evaluating this population’s response to opioid misuse disorder treatments. A complete list of current and proposed funding opportunities is available at SAMHSA 2020 grant announcements.
ACCP has been invited by SAMHSA to help recruit clinical pharmacists to participate as peer reviewers for grant applications. The addition of clinical pharmacists to the cadre of peer grant reviewers reflects the need for both a more in-depth assessment of applications involving medication use and an expansion of SAMHSA’s interprofessional collaborations. Peer grant reviewers will analyze applications in relation to the scoring criteria, communicate their evaluations in writing and during group discussions, and work with other reviewers to resolve any significant scoring discrepancies and assemble final comments. All SAMHSA peer grant reviewers will participate in a training program before beginning the assigned work. ACCP members interested in serving as peer grant reviewers are invited to complete the SAMHSA online application form. For members applying to become a SAMHSA grant peer reviewer, ACCP will provide a letter of support. If you would like to include a letter of support in your application, please e-mail your request and a copy of your CV to [email protected].