Understanding Linkages Between Community-based Organizations and Community Health Centers for SUD Care

Research has shown that there are significant inequities in accessing effective substance use disorder (SUD) medications, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction services for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) who use drugs. A major finding from a 2023 literature review from the Institute for Community Health indicated that programs that bring treatment into community-based locations may improve engagement of BIPOC in SUD care.

In partnership with Dr. Cheryl Clark and the Institute for Health Equity Research, Evaluation, and Policy (IHE), part of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, RIZE is funding research to understand facilitators and barriers to supporting referral relationships between community-based organizations and community health centers.

IHE is using a mixed methods approach, including qualitative interviews and focus groups with professional staff within trusted community-based organizations in BIPOC communities in the referral regions of participating community health centers, to address the following aims:

• Identify facilitators to develop referral relationships. From the perspective of community-based organizations, IHE will seek to understand what relationships, processes, and materials are needed to facilitate referrals to CHCs for comprehensive SUD care.
• Identify barriers to developing referral relationships. From the perspective of community-based organizations, IHE will seek to understand the perceived deterrents (cultural, operational, clinical staff diversity, discomfort with discussing SUD, traumatic health care experiences, and other concerns) that raise hesitancy in referring clients for CHC-based SUD care.

IHE will partner with the Caring Health Center in Springfield and potentially other interested community health centers to ensure that people from the community are identifying and prioritizing research topics focused on root causes.