Here are three things to know about the issue.
1. Peer recovery coaches have struggled with addiction themselves.
2. The coaching model, still in its infancy, involves introducing an overdose patient to a coach during their emergency department stays.Once patients leave the hospital, coaches stay in touch, meeting patients regularly to help them on their path to recovery and resolve issues such as housing, food stamp applications, court obligations or job searches, according to the report.
3. The coaching model is gaining traction in states due to the national opioid epidemic, and Rhode Island is taking the lead, according to the report. Kaiser Health News reports the state this summer committed to assigning, and paying for, a peer coach at every hospital emergency department. Other states, such as New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Delaware, are experimenting with ways to place and pay for peer coaches in their emergency rooms, though programs vary in size and evolution, the report notes.
For more on this story, including challenges in implementing a coaching model, see Shefali Luthra’s report in Kaiser Health News.
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