This publication of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) discusses the role of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in addressing opioid use.
This publication of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) describes the partnership between jails and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). FQHCs play an increasingly significant role in public health and treatment efforts to effectively address the opioid epidemic. The number of FQHC patients receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) more than doubled between 2017 and 2019, as did the number of FQHC-affiliated medical professionals who are qualified to treat OUD with U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications. This growth in capacity has attracted the attention of jail administrators and other stakeholders working to ensure appropriate OUD treatment to those in custody and to ensure continuity of care upon return to their communities. Trailblazers are innovatively incorporating FQHCs into their efforts to promote OUD recovery and ensure individuals’ successful transition from incarceration. FQHCs are community-based health care providers that address the needs of adults, children, and families in underserved areas, regardless of patients’ ability to pay. Since 1965, FQHCs have provided primary, preventive, and behavioral health care to millions of patients in every U.S. state, U.S. territory, and the District of Columbia. Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) Jails and FQHCs: Emerging Partnerships for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Health Promotion Through the authority of Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funds nearly 1,400 FQHCs as community health centers, migrant health centers, health care for the homeless programs, and/or health centers for residents of public housing (see Figure 1). Health centers designated as FQHC look-alikes meet HRSA requirements for providing care in underserved areas but do not receive Section 330 funding.