Workforce Development to Increase Access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Services among Minority Populations

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is accepting applications to expand/enhance grant activities carried out under the Addiction Technology Transfer Centers (ATTC) program, funded in FY 2007, to prepare the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment workforce to engage specific minority populations in medication-assisted treatment (MAT). SAMHSA/CSAT is announcing the availability of one-year supplemental funding for ATTC grantees to develop culturally-competent training programs and appropriate outreach materials and strategies for community-based substance abuse treatment providers. The purpose of the program is to increase awareness, provide education, and promote access to MAT for the specific racial and ethnic minority populations listed below. Grantees are expected to focus training on information, skills, and resources that providers can use to enhance client access to MAT. SAMHSA believes that the ATTC network is the most efficient means to develop training programs and disseminate materials because these grantees have the capacity to successfully complete program requirements in the one-year funding period and the infrastructure necessary to disseminate the information throughout the United States.Grantees are expected to select one population from the list below as the population of focus for this program: * African American; * American Indian/Alaska Native; * Hispanic/Latino(a); and * Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander.Data suggest that the consequences of drug use may be worse among ethnic minorities, including higher rates of drug-related criminal justice issues and HIV attributable to injection drug use. Among injection drug-users, the prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) are higher among African Americans and Latinos than among Whites. Opiate-dependent minorities are less likely to access methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) than Whites. Studies of out-of-treatment African Americans and Latino injection drug users have found that some had negative perceptions about methadone and perceive barriers to MMT. Data also suggest that barriers to access or utilization of care exist for racial and ethnic minority groups, as well. Further research is needed to assess issues around attitudes, understanding, access, utilization, and treatment outcomes of MAT, including both opioid and alcohol pharmacotherapy, among persons belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups. However, the devastating consequences of untreated addiction necessitate the immediate development of initiatives to expand access to MAT among racial and ethnic minorities. The specific goal for this initiative is to support the ATTCs in developing training materials and a training program for substance abuse treatment providers to help providers become more skilled at outreach and engagement of specific racial and ethnic minority populations in MAT. In turn, this training is expected to increase client access to and retention in MAT.ATTC grants are authorized under Section 509 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area 26 (Substance Abuse).