Trillium is allocated $251,792 in Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPTBG) funds on a one-time basis for nicotine replacement therapy for uninsured individuals in substance use disorder treatment settings, so they experience no barriers to accessing evidence-based treatment for nicotine withdrawal.

Eligible expenditures must be incurred during the period of July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. Any FY23 unspent monies will be available until September 30, 2025.

The funding can be used for the following:

 Coordinating with a vendor to provide over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) to provider organizations to be kept onsite for uninsured patients with substance use disorder receiving the following services, including, but not limited to facility-based crisis, non-hospital medical detox, detox social setting, supervised living- low, supervised living- moderate, group living- low, group living- medium, group living high, and substance abuse halfway houses.

 Ensuring there are no barriers to accessing medications by promoting the utilization of NRT medications in the abovementioned settings, as well as utilization of Quitline services. Promotion includes, but is not limited to:

o Educating providers about how to access NRT for members, offering or promoting training in evidence-based tobacco use treatment for staff, educating provider agencies on connecting clients with Quitline services for additional support and medications.

o Working with inpatient and residential settings to ensure standing orders or doctor’s orders from referring providers are in place in both inpatient and residential settings, so that there is no gap between a patient developing nicotine withdrawal and receiving adequate medication to treat that withdrawal. NC DHHS’ standing order that allows pharmacists to dispense NRT is a useful example of an evidence-based algorithm for dosing over-the-counter combination

NRT through a standing order.

o In residential settings, NRT provided through these funds is meant to serve as a bridge to treat nicotine withdrawal until the patient is connected to another community source (such as QuitlineNC, a local health department, etc.).

o Meet with or communicate with DMH/DD/SAS and DPH staff as needed to troubleshoot any problems with providers or patients accessing NRT.

Provider must be a non-profit provider in the Trillium network.