The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday awarded nearly $1.75 million across five health centers in Colorado to expand the delivery of substance-abuse services, with a focus on the state’s .
The centers receiving federal funding are the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless ($325,000) and Denver Health ($325,000) in Denver; the Metro Community Provider Network ($310,000) in Englewood; the Plan de Salud del Valle ($378,521) in Fort Lupton; and the University of Colorado ($405,950) in Aurora.
The centers will be able to use the money to increase the number of patients screened for substance-use disorders and bolster their access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use.
The funding Colorado received is part of $94 million in nationwide disbursements made by HHS to hire approximately 800 providers to treat nearly 124,000 new patients.
The agency estimates that the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain medications has nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2013, while deaths related to heroin went up 39 percent from 2012 to 2013.
