Last spring, when community health centers across the country started limiting in-person care in response to COVID-19, it was hard to predict what would happen to innovative, client-centered behavioral health and substance use disorder programs that centers have spent years developing. What care could be moved virtually? How would the most vulnerable patients—struggling with substance abuse, living without housing or consistent phones—retain access? And how would the health center workforce maintain the collaborative, team-based care that has become synonymous with positive patient outcomes and resilient health centers?
Among a cohort of 10 health centers selected by the CVS Health Foundation and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) to apply community-based solutions to the national opioid crisis, the answers to these questions tell a tale of transformation through creativity, steadiness, perseverance, and the belief that if you meet patients and providers where they are, healing happens. Read blog to learn more.