A Resource for Healthcare and Social Services Professionals
In 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (MDPH, BSAS) created the State Technical Assistance Treatment Expansion (STATE) OBAT Program with the specific intent of integrating Boston Medical Center's (BMC's) Nurse Care Manager OBAT model into Community Health Centers (CHCs) across the Commonwealth. The success of BMC's OBAT Nurse Care Manager Model enabled the creation of the BMC Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) program, formerly known as BMC OBAT TTA, to advise providers across the state on how to implement this model of addiction treatment, now known as the Massachusetts Model, into their own organizations.
Within 3 years, expansion of BMC's OBAT model to 14 CHCs increased by 375% the number of physicians "waivered" (i.e., permitted by regulation) to prescribe buprenorphine. Also beginning in 2007, BMC started an opioid addiction treatment referral hotline that receives 8-10 calls per day from people seeking treatment for opioid use disorder.
At present, BMC provides TTA to over 40 CHCs across Massachusetts. BMC Grayken Center for Addiction TTA has helped to expand treatment for substance use disorders across the state, particularly in underserved areas and low-income communities. Under BMC's leadership the STATE OBAT Program treated over 15,000 patients for substance use disorders in 2015. Staff of BMC Grayken Center for Addiction TTA are frequently invited to consult for governmental, health, and social service agencies across the country. Additionally, BMC Grayken Center for Addiction TTA was recently funded by the GE Foundation to extend its reach even further to Community Health Centers across Massachusetts.
Grayken Center for Addiction TTA is a program of Boston Medical Center (BMC), a 514-bed academic medical center located in Boston's historic South End and the largest safety-net hospital in New England.
The content on this site and the content presented by Grayken Center for Addiction TTA is intended solely to inform and educate healthcare and social service professionals, and shall not be used for medical advice and is not a substitute for the advice or treatment of a qualified medical professional. The hospital, the program, and the contributors are not acting as health care providers or professional consultants on behalf of any specific patient and disclaim establishing a provider-patient relationship with any specific patient.