The highest quarterly gains are in substance use treatment, peer support services.
SALEM, Ore. — Measure 110 Behavioral Health Resource Network providers reported increases in client engagement over all service areas, according to recently released quarterly reporting data.
As providers continue to establish and expand services, the most recent data revealed a 346 percent client gain in screening services since the program’s start – indicating that more providers are seeing new clients for the first time. Supported employment showed the highest overall percentage gain at 422 percent.
Client screening is an important first step for people seeking substance use treatment and recovery. As a result, network providers have reported increased numbers of people are accessing low-barrier treatment services and supports.
The latest data also show a 258 percent increase in people accessing peer services, in addition to other supports. Many peer service providers reported meeting people in their homes or in community settings and using other measures to lower service barriers such as providing childcare and securing transportation to treatment.
Measure 110 network providers report the number of clients they serve and the number of encounters they have with their clients as a measure of overall engagement. Some clients may receive multiple services within a network or within multiple service networks.
The latest report covers network activities from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2023. Collectively, Measure 110 providers have now reported five quarters of data and expenditures from July 1, 2022, when the first network was established, through Sept. 30, 2023.
Overall, Measure 110 providers reported 267,000 encounters for people seeking peer support services and more than 220,000 encounters for substance use treatment over the 15 months of operations from July 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023.
OHA continually updates a comprehensive Measure 110 data reporting dashboard that includes quarterly data, expenditures, key demographic information, and aggregated narrative summaries for the 42 statewide service networks.
The dashboard also contains a section that shows how providers are conducting community outreach to directly connect individuals to services in their communities.
“Public awareness campaigns and community engagement activities play a pivotal role in dismantling social stigmas, misconceptions, and discrimination related to specific health services and conditions,” reported one provider. “By challenging and dispelling these stigmas, we empower individuals to seek care comfortably, which in turn, lowers the hurdles to accessing services.”
Other providers focused on reaching populations that historically have been under supported. “Our peers and navigators have been able to do community outreach on a regular basis…with peer support referrals and health screenings,” reported one provider. “[Our] outreach focuses primarily on the houseless, unstably housed, incarcerated, transitional, and marginalized BIPOC communities.”
Another provider described the value of providing supported employment services to people in need. “The housing portion of our services has helped build tangible life skills as our tenants work to remodel and create a beautiful space while earning a paycheck.”
Despite the reported growth in service access, nearly one-third of providers continue to report challenges around building their workforce.
The deadline for the next round of reporting for expenditure and program data is in April and will cover the time from October 1 – December 30, 2023. OHA expects to publish that data in Summer 2024.
Background: In November 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act of 2020, which became effective Dec. 4, 2020, to better serve people actively using substances or diagnosed with a substance use disorder. In July 2021, the legislature passed SB 755, which amended the act and made it more feasible to implement.
People who provide drug treatment and recovery services and advocates for criminal justice reform wrote Measure 110 in response to the high rate of drug addiction and overdoses in Oregon, and the disproportionate impact of those outcomes on Oregon’s communities of color.
Their goal was to establish a more equitable health-based and effective approach to substance use disorder.
OHA is continuing to develop and sharpen strategic parameters around data collection, establishing standards for the type that is appropriate to collect, modifying internal systems and processes to capture data outcomes, metrics, and reducing administrative burden on providers.
The Measure 110 program continues to refine service data collection for communities of color and other disproportionately affected communities, as the networks transition toward implementing Race Ethnicity and Language Disability (REALD) standards in their data collection.
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