The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) is a multi-year initiative that addresses barriers to treatment for substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD). It works toward the HHS goal of ending the opioid epidemic. RCORP is supported through HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.

Currently, MHREF manages an RCORP grant focused on a community-wide approach to the prevention, treatment and recovery of SUD/OUD. The grant covers an 11-county geographical area along Montana’s Hi-Line. The RCORP grant consortium provides training, technical assistance, and resources for stigma reduction campaigns, community development, paraprofessional training, Medication Assistant Treatment (MAT) waiver and implementation education, Integrated Behavioral Health education, and opioid related simulation education for healthcare providers. Consortium partners include the Montana Office of Rural Health, Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, the Montana Primary Care Association, Montana DPHHS, the Montana Peer Support Network, and Frontier Psychiatry.

Additionally, MHREF supports an RCORP grant managed by St. James Healthcare Foundation, Inc. focused on reducing opioid-related mortality and morbidity among a targeted population of pregnant and parenting women through a coordinated, multi-sector response or coalition. The Southwest Montana OUD/SUD Community Coalition works to strengthen and expand SUD/OUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services to enhance rural residents’ ability to access treatment and move toward recovery. The grant covers a 5-county geographical area in Southwest Montana.