As the first hospital-based Opioid Treatment Program in the state of Maryland (since the 1970s), the Drug Treatment Center (DTC) has long embraced a tradition of integrating empirically validated approaches for the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). The DTC is currently treating more than 500 patients with methadone and buprenorphine, counseling, overdose and relapse prevention plans, and more.

The DTC also operates a Health Home, which serves more than 180 people. The Health Home coordinates and improves access to primary and preventative care services.

The DTC collaborates with clinicians throughout the hospital system and city to get patients connected to the care they deserve. Like all of the substance use programs at 1001 West Pratt, the DTC can engage patients with Medical Assistance, Medicare (including some Medicare Advantage Plans), temporarily uninsured patients, and veterans via VA referral.

The Baltimore City’s local behavioral health authority, Behavioral Health Systems of Baltimore (BHSB), has long supported the DTC’s clinical endeavors through grant funding. BHSB-funded programs onsite include our buprenorphine Hub site, West Baltimore’s only Hub in an expanding citywide Hub and Spoke network for addiction care.

As a hub, the DTC’s goal is to make access to addiction treatment as easy as possible, both by making our own services accessible and by supporting other physicians and providers in the city as they implement and expand their own addiction treatment capabilities.

The DTC is also the site of a BHSB-funded multiyear pilot of a smartphone-based app to help with methadone access and adherence. In addition, BHSB supports a vital project to engage patients in methadone treatment who also need post-acute care in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) after hospitalization.

Our division offers intensive outpatient and outpatient counseling services for alcohol and substance use disorders through the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (ADAP). In addition to counseling, ADAP can provide medication-based treatments, including monthly injectable naltrexone (Vivitrol®), and injectable buprenorphine (Sublocade® and Brixadi®).

ADAP is closely integrated with the DTC; this allows for a continuum of support as patients move from chaotic drug use to sustained recovery.

Deaf Addictions Services at Maryland (DASAM) has provided services for deaf and hard of hearing Marylanders with substance use for the past 17 years. Onsite services include:

• Counseling
• Treatment with evidence-based medications
• Case coordination
• Interpreting services

In addition, DASAM provides disability advocacy, outreach, and culturally appropriate services via telemedicine to clients and other stakeholders statewide.

In operation since 2019 as a collaboration between our division and the University of Maryland Institute of Human Virology (IHV), the Health and Recovery Practice (HARP) provides primary care, infectious disease care (HIV/HCV), psychiatry, psychotherapy, wound care, nursing care management, and walk-in care for urgent medical needs to present and past patients at our co-located substance use programs.

HARP and the other 1001 West Pratt programs work closely together in a team-based model to provide whole-person health care. Our goals are to enhance the health and well-being of all 1001 West Pratt patients while helping curb preventable Emergency Department and inpatient hospital care.

HARP services include The Drop-in Center, which provides patients a place to spend time and access services during the day, including a computer lab, housing and benefits support, vocational reintegration, and harm reduction supplies and education.

Founded in 1989, the Substance Abuse Consultation Service (SACS) inpatient program is one of the first and most well-developed of its kind in the nation. The program’s multi-disciplinary team provides consultation to teams caring for medical, surgical, and trauma patients with substance use disorders or risky substance use.

SACS is a major teaching service for medical students, residents, and fellows from a variety of specialties. The service has been a leader in engaging patients in substance use treatment — including medications for Opioid Use Disorder (mOUD) — while they are being treated in the hospital for their medical issues. The consult service coordinates closely with the programs at 1001 West Pratt Street to connect patients to mOUD, medical, and specialty care, and also facilitates vital connections to services in patients’ communities of origin.

Initially funded by the state of Maryland, this project establishes SBIRT support with peer recovery coaches in the Emergency Department at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

As part of this initiative, all Emergency Department patients are screened for substance use disorders. Peer recovery coaches then can help patients with risky substance use set healthier goals for substance use and refer to appropriate treatment if necessary.

Located in the Walter P. Carter Center at 701 West Pratt Street, the Outpatient Addiction Treatment Services (OATS) offers addiction psychiatry and outpatient counseling services for individuals with alcohol use and substance use disorders.

OATS can provide medication-based treatments through local pharmacies. In coordination with the programs at 1001 West Pratt Street, OATS can facilitate treatment with long-acting injectable medications such as Sublocade®, Brixadi®, and Vivitrol®.

Since 2016, providers from the Division of Addiction Research and Treatment have provided medication-based treatment for Opioid Use Disorder and other conditions in partnership with rural county health departments and nonprofit organizations across the breadth of the entire state of Maryland, including Wells House and the Caroline County Health Department.

Eastern Shore Mobile Care Collaborative at the Caroline County Health Department (ESMCC) is a Mobile Treatment Unit that aims to increase access to care by providing Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for individuals with Opioid Use Disorders (OUD) in underserved rural communities to maximize access to life-saving treatment and develop a model of care that can be adopted by other underserved rural areas with similar needs.

Learn more about ESMCC

Addiction medicine specialists at the University of Maryland are leveraging telemedicine to ensure access to medications for Opioid Use Disorder to incarcerated individuals at various rural detention centers across Maryland.

The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling offers training for counselors throughout the state to provide services for individuals with gambling problems. The center maintains a helpline for individuals, conducts ongoing public awareness outreach to the citizens of Maryland, and connects individuals looking for help with no-cost counseling in their community.

Learn More at MDProblemGambling.com

The Opioid Use Disorder Medical Patient Engagement, Enrollment in Treatment and Transitional Supports (OUD-MEETS), a BHSB-funded initiative, allows the UMMC Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) and the UMMC Substance Abuse Consultation Service to ensure access to methadone and buprenorphine for individuals receiving post-acute care in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs).

This innovative project leverages the comprehensive evaluations that our hospital inpatient services provide to satisfy admission criteria for our Opioid Treatment Program. As a result, patients can be appropriately treated with medications for Opioid Use Disorder in SNFs even if they were not already enrolled in an OTP prior to their hospitalization.

Crucial to the program is ongoing engagement and outreach from a social worker with expertise in the care of individuals with addiction.

The division has operated the nation’s most successful Sports Psychiatry & Performance Psychology Program since 1996. This program works with athletes and teams from more than 35 different sports at all competitive levels, including the Baltimore Ravens (NFL) and Orioles (MLB), to help establish team-based mental health, substance abuse, and mental skills services.

In a collaborative program, the Division of Addiction Research and Treatment and the UMSOM's Institute of Human Virology developed the first methadone treatment centers for individuals with opioid use disorder in Kenya. The efforts of the Ngara Medically-Assisted Therapy (MAT) Clinic in Nairobi included:

• Training and educating staff
• Maintaining in-house case discussions and continuing medical education sessions
• Engaging with the police department to help lower the stigma of substance and opioid use disorders
• Encouraging referrals to treatment
• Developing evidence-based counseling and psychosocial support systems
• Hepatitis and HIV screenings for all patients entering treatment
• Referrals from needle exchange services