Department of Health Services | January 2022 Newsletter

A Message from Paul Krupski, DHS Director of Opioid Initiatives

Our work to address Wisconsin's opioid epidemic is more important than ever. Provisional data for 2021 show that the number of opioid-related deaths last year is on pace to meet or exceed the record number we experienced in 2020. 

Our work to save lives this year will be bolstered by new funding that will allow us to create new programs and services to address gaps in our continuum of care. 

One new funding source will be settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. We anticipate several settlements to be finalized in the coming months. Unlike many of our current funding sources, these settlements are not focused on specific parts of the continuum of care. We look forward to maximizing the flexibilities afforded by these funds to support programs and services we have not been able to support in the past due to funding restrictions. 

Another new funding source is a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies. Wisconsin was one of five states selected to be part of this program. We will receive $10 million over the next five years. The Bloomberg Philanthropies partnership includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Vital Strategies. We will be working with these organizations to enhance our existing programs and services and implement new strategies. This work also includes advocating for federal policies to expand treatment access and harm reduction services. We are in the planning stage for this funding. We'll share more on our specific plan for this funding later this year.  

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has made our collective work to address the opioid epidemic more challenging. Thanks in large part to your work and support, we were making progress in reducing opioid harm prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were building healthy communities by advancing prevention strategies, increasing the availability of and access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone and other harm reduction services, and improving access to and retention in treatment and recovery services. Staying the course and working with all of you, our statewide partners, we can again begin to see a reduction in opioid-related deaths. 

Visit the DHS website for more information on opioids.