Texas A&M University Health Science Center in Bryan is teaming up with Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, a telehealth teaching model for clinicians, on a program to address the opioid epidemic.
Enhancing Mental Health Practice, Organization and Workforce through Education and Readiness will help educate rural healthcare providers in Texas on how to combat the opioid epidemic in their communities. Healthcare providers will learn information such as how to avoid over prescribing opioids and ECHO will help them attain necessary waivers to prescribe drugs that help manage and treat opioid addiction.
"EMPOWER allows us to extend the capacity of care out beyond our walls and into these communities, providing valuable education and resources that can save lives, design recovery structures for each individual, all while educating rural health care providers at the exact same time," Joy Alonzo, PharmD, clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Pharmacy, said in a news release.
ECHO does not actually provide care to patients but instead helps support clinicians in rural and underserved areas by providing knowledge and clinical expertise to perform specialty care services for patients.