As of May 31, 2024, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) began implementing a prioritization plan to maximize resources so that individuals most at risk of experiencing or witnessing an overdose are prioritized to receive naloxone.
Background
The Opiate Antagonist Bulk Purchase Fund, known as the Bulk Fund, has provided free naloxone to eligible entities across the state of Colorado since 2019. During the 2022 legislative session, the General Assembly allocated close to $20 million in one-time funding to the Bulk Fund in efforts to increase availability and access to naloxone throughout Colorado. Unfortunately, the Bulk Fund does not have an annual appropriation that allows it to continue providing naloxone on the same scale that it has been able to.
Due to limited resources, CDPHE has begun implementing a prioritization plan. This plan seeks to ensure that people who are most likely to experience or witness an overdose have access to naloxone, reducing the number of fatal overdoses in Colorado. The plan requires eligible entities to access other available resources, encourages collaboration, and improves efficiency in the Bulk Fund program.
Key Considerations
- Eligible entities must demonstrate they are working directly with or interacting with people who use drugs (PWUD).
- Eligible entities must have a naloxone distribution plan and have the ability to share data regarding how many naloxone kits were distributed.
- Users of the Bulk Fund must make all reasonable efforts to find any available alternative sources of naloxone or funding for naloxone if a third party (including a government agency) is authorized or legally obligated to pay for naloxone.
- Other resources include access to opioid settlement funds, other state agency grant programs, federal grant funding, public or private insurance, or private foundation funding.
- A cap on the amount of naloxone available to request may be implemented.
- As of March 2024, CDPHE resumed limits on how much naloxone may be requested per order for Bulk Fund entities.
- Naloxone products that are the most cost-effective will be prioritized.
Prioritization Categories
- Eligible entity that directly serves or consistently encounters people who use drugs, and who are most at risk of experiencing or witnessing an overdose. Examples may include:
- syringe service programs (including those offered through local public health agencies)
- drug user health agencies
- peer support programs
- recovery homes
- direct service reentry organizations
- homeless service organizations
- sex worker health organizations
- substance use disorder treatment programs
- Communities that are disproportionately experiencing overdose deaths such as communities of color, and emergency medical services and law enforcement* agencies will also be considered essential and prioritized. Priority will be given to these entities if they distribute naloxone directly to:
- people who use drugs,
- people who have a history of using drugs, or
- people under supervision (i.e. people on probation, people on parole, people released from jail, people who reside in a community corrections facility).
- Eligible entity sometimes encounters people who use their services and who also use drugs. Examples may include:
- school districts
- colleges
- universities
- local public health agencies (LPHAs)
- correctional facilities (i.e., jails and prisons), community corrections facilities, probation officers, and parole officers
- Please Note: Priority will be given to these entities if they distribute naloxone directly to people who use drugs, people who have a history of using drugs, or people under supervision (i.e. people on probation, people on parole, people released from jail, people who reside in a community corrections facility).
- Eligible entity occasionally encounters people who use drugs and distributes naloxone via general public outreach. Examples may include:
- public awareness organizations
- providing naloxone at tabling events
- a unit of local government
- libraries
- religious organizations
- Eligible entity rarely encounters people who use drugs, or eligible entity can utilize other funding sources. The agency has no metric for PWUD reached.