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September 30, 2022
Media contact: Timothy Heider, 971-599-0459,
timothy.heider@dhs.oregon.gov
The Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council (OAC) on Wednesday approved several proposals intended to protect continuity of services for individuals seeking treatment under Measure 110 and to ensure operational and financial stability for Measure 110 service networks ramping up across Oregon.
The OAC approved a proposal to offer current Measure 110 Behavioral Health Resource Network (BHRN) grantees an option to receive an 18-month grant extension through June 2025. The current grants are due to expire in December 2023. The OAC also approved a process for how to handle Measure 110 service providers that may drop out of service networks.
Offering the potential extensions ensures individuals seeking treatment and services under Measure 110 won’t face a disruption in care in December 2023.
“It also allows providers the predictability and certainty they need to become fully operational,” said Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Behavioral Health Director Steve Allen. “Approving these extensions and the process for replacing service providers further demonstrates our commitment to serving individuals seeking treatment and to working with the OAC and our community partners to provide a stable source of funding needed to fully implement Measure 110,” he said.
Starting in November OHA will ask BHRN service providers whether they are interested in continuing to provide services through June of 2025, with a deadline of expressing an interest in an extension of December 15, 2022.
Beginning in January, OHA will work on grant extension documents and work with service providers to adjust budgets. The deadline for finalizing grant extensions is June 2023.
The OAC has established and funded 44 Behavioral Health Resource Networks (BHRNs) under Measure 110. These networks now exist in every Oregon county.
Each one offers a comprehensive array of community-based and culturally specific services for people seeking treatment for drug use and substance use disorders, without regard to their ability to pay.
Replacing service providers
The OAC also approved a process for replacing network providers who wish to stop providing services, if the loss of the provider would leave a service gap. Grantees opting to leave a network must get approval from the OAC and before agreeing to the termination of a grant agreement OAC wants to ensure all required BHRN services are covered. If there is another network partner providing the same service or services as the provider that is dropping out, the OAC has authorized OHA to agree to terminate the grant, but no replacement provider will be sought.
If a BHRN partner’s departure would leave a gap in services for the BHRN, OHA will look to other BHRN partners in the county to provide the additional, service. If a network partner in the county cannot provide the service, OHA will look to any BHRN provider, and only if no current Measure 110 grantee can provide the service, will OHA look to a new provider to fill the gap. OHA will not agree to the termination of a grant until all required services in a BHRN are provided.
More detailed information on the grant extensions and the process for replacing providers, along with implementation progress updates can be found on the Measure 110 web page. Notices for future OAC meetings can be found here.
OHA has developed a statewide map visualization that shows the BHRNs that have been established, along with a robust dashboard showing the funded services within each service network. OHA has also developed a Measure 110 resources page, which includes contact information for each of the BHRNs.
Read more about Measure 110
Background: In November 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act of 2020, which became effective Dec. 4, 2020, to better serve people actively using substances or diagnosed with a substance use disorder. In July 2021, the legislature passed SB 755, which amended the act and made it more feasible to implement.
People who provide drug treatment and recovery services and advocates for criminal justice reform wrote Measure 110 in response to the high rate of drug addiction and overdoses in Oregon, and the disproportionate impact of those outcomes on Oregon’s communities of color.
Their goal was to establish a more equitable and effective approach to substance use disorder. OHA is working with the OAC to develop a first-in-the-nation health-based approach to substance use and overdose prevention system, which is more helpful, caring and cost-effective than punishing and criminalizing people who need help.
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