Ideal Option received funding from the New Mexico Department of Health to build overdose prevention capacity as a part of health promotion efforts to enhance local knowledge of problematic substance use, harm reduction, and access to medication-based treatment (MAT) as well as contribute to evaluation of local, regional, and statewide community efforts to help prevent fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses in New Mexico. 

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Ideal Option provides Intensive Case Management for adults involved or at risk of involvement in the criminal justice system. According to the National Association of Social Workers the goal of case management is to “enhance a client’s purpose and well-being by providing and coordinating high-quality, services, in the most effective and efficient manner possible, for individuals with multiple complex needs”. Intensive Case Management covers all essential supports of conventional case management, such as housing, benefits, legal, and medical referrals, and advocacy. 

Doña Ana County’s program aims to fund and support initiatives that improve the health and wellness of the Doña Ana County community. Ideal Option has been awarded funding and is using these funds to provide substance use disorder treatment to uninsured patients at our clinic in Las Cruces, NM. 

In November of 2020 Oregon passed measure 110 or the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act. This led to grant funds being available for Behavioral Health Resource Networks (BHRNs) to provide communities with prevention, treatment, and recovery services to individuals with and at risk for substance use disorder. Ideal Option is using these funds for the following projects:

• Provide substance use disorder treatment to uninsured Oregonians in Deschutes, Marion, and Washington Counties.
• Support peer outreach services across Oregon.
• Open a second clinic location in Lane County: The Springfield Oregon clinic opened on February 20th , 2023.
• Open a second clinic in Deschutes County: The Redmond Oregon clinic opened on January 23rd, 2023.
• Provide Medication Assisted Treatment within the Deschutes County Jail: The program launched in July 2023.
• Provide Medication Assisted Treatment within the Marion County Jail: The program launched in January 2023.

Ideal Option received Washington Health Care Authority (HCA) funding for the Hub & Spoke (H&S) project. Since then, Ideal Option has successfully inducted individuals and coordinated recovery support services for those seeking access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in Snohomish and Skagit counties. Ideal Option’s network includes partners providing detox, primary care, SUD counseling, mental health counseling and transportation services. 

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The LEAD program diverts individuals who are engaged in low-level drug crime and crimes of poverty away from the criminal legal system and connects them with intensive case managers who can provide crisis response, immediate psychosocial assessment, and access to long-term wrap-around services including substance use disorder treatment and housing. The City of Seattle contracts with PDA (Purpose. Dignity. Action.) to administer the LEAD program and Ideal Option is one of the organizations who provides case management services. 

Peer navigation services are completed by a person who has lived experience, helping people who are currently experiencing substance use, mental health challenges, and/or houselessness find and access the services they are ready to receive. Peer navigators liase between individuals, healthcare providers, and service providers, facilitating communications and ensuring all parties are in agreement and clear on all important decisions. Through shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment, peer navigators help people become and stay engaged in the recovery process and reduce the likelihood of relapse. This project places a peer navigator within the Emergency Room at Providence in Everett and another in the Snohomish County Jail.  

The outpatient clinic in Maple Falls is open for new and returning patients on Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m. – 4 p.m. at 8251 Kendall Rd, inside the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center. The purpose of the project, funded by the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH), is to expand access to office-based opioid treatment to the HRSA and USDA designated rural community of Maple Falls. 

North Sound ACH supports a regional care coordination hub, which takes referrals from across the region about individuals and families struggling due to physical, behavioral, and social needs. The Community Hub serves as a central registry for a network of care coordination agencies (CCAs), helping to eliminate structural barriers while reducing the duplication of services. The Hub also serves as the central infrastructure for tracking and measuring specific health outcomes, agency outcomes, staff outcomes, and opportunities for coordinated quality improvement efforts. Ideal Option is funded through the North Sound ACH to be one of the CCA organizations providing case management and accepting referrals for substance use disorder treatment. The program provides the community with two dedicated peer navigators withing Ideal Option clinics in Bellingham and Mount Vernon Washington to help clients navigate complicated systems and identify needed resources. The case management services provided through the Community Hub are free of charge.  

Novel Substances are increasingly affecting communities and individuals in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programs. Identifying the specific substances present in the local drug supply is critical for shaping effective public health initiatives and tailoring patient treatment plans. In the summer of 2024, Snohomish County Public Health, in collaboration with Ideal Option, launched a project using a Time-of-Flight (TOF) mass spectrometer to analyze samples from patients seeking treatment in Snohomish County, Washington. This initiative aims to identify emerging drug trends and provide real-time data on NPS prevalence. Approximately 150 new patients are assessed monthly across five clinics, following the clinic’s standard care practices. Although patient samples are de-identified, aggregate data analysis enables the evaluation of trends related to characteristics such as zip code, age, demographics, and substance use history. The project hopes to explore the potential of real-time novel substance surveillance and detection to enhance clinical and public health responses, particularly in preventing overdoses and improving patient outcomes. 

OptiMAT (or “Optimizing Medication-Assisted Treatment”) is a health and wellness app under evaluation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, is the use of medications combined with therapy to treat substance use disorders, including misuse of nicotine, alcohol, or opioids. UAMS is evaluating if OptiMAT can improve treatment outcomes through the following: 

• daily monitoring of participant craving, mood, and withdrawal symptoms 

• personalized feedback 

• alerting participants when they enter areas of high risk for relapse 

The purpose of this randomized, controlled trial in Phase I is to determine whether the Pillsy intervention can improve adherence to buprenorphine-naloxone compared to Service As Usual.

PIRE staff conduct data collection to inform policy and funding decisions and support the work of the Bloomberg Overdose Prevention Initiative in four states (Wisconsin, New Jersey, Michigan, and New Mexico) with partners from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Vital Strategies. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection are conducted with people who currently or have recently been at risk of overdose through anonymous telephone surveys and in-depth interviews. Areas of focus include drug use experience, access to harm reduction and treatment services, perceptions of risk, and overdose experience.