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Pain Management and Substance Use Resources

The Alliance is committed to working with community partners, supporting our providers and members, and jointly developing effective, resourceful and innovative strategies to change the course of the opioid and substance use crisis.

As complex problems require complex solutions, we are coordinating our efforts toward four key evidence-based areas:

Prevention: Limiting the number of new members starting a path of chronic opioid use.
Management: Promoting safer prescribing practices, helping identify members on high-risk regimens and working with providers and members to develop successful tapering plans.
Treatment: Fostering medication-assisted treatment for substance use and streamlining access to these multimodal, essential services.
Stopping overdose deaths: Educating providers, pharmacies, members and their families on the life-saving importance of naloxone for anyone who is prescribed opioids.

The resources below provide clinicians and members with evidence-based information, tools and best practices for safe, compassionate and effective care.

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Clinical Guidelines for Pain Management and Opioid Safety

Best Practices for Pain Management and Clinical Tools

Best Practices for Chronic Pain Management - Prescribe Safe Monterey County
Common Comorbidities with Substance Use Disorders Research Report
Opioids and Chronic Pain: A Guide for Primary Care Providers
Complementary Health Approaches for Chronic Pain
Opioid Use Disorder: A VA Clinician's Guide to Identification and Management of Opioid Use Disorder - S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Six Building Blocks: A Team-Based Approach to Improving Opioid Management in Primary Care
Stigma Resources - National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Difficult Conversations - Oregon Pain Guidance (OPG)
CURES | MBC (ca.gov) - Medical Board of California
Naloxone (AB 2760) - Medical Board of California
Approaches to Managing Benzodiazepines
Tools for Pain Treatment & Management - Comprehensive list of useful, downloadable PDF tools and forms from OPG.
Safe Pain Prescribing in Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Centers- Safe Med LA
Opioid Tapering Flow Sheet - OPG
Opioid Taper Decision Tool - VA
Benzodiazepine Risks: Are You Aware of the Possible Risks from Taking Benzodiazepines? - VA
Agency Medical Directors' Group - Opioid dosing and taper calculator.
Opioid Conversion Calculator

Community Coalitions

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)

Clinical Guidelines and Resources

Resources for Opioid Treatment Providers - HHS
Medication Assisted Treatment - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Tools for substance use disorder treatment - This CA Bridge resource includes comprehensive resources for hospital inpatient and emergency department settings.
National Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder - American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
MAT Toolkit for Primary Care Providers - California Department of Health Care Services
Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Playbook - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Treatment of Stimulant Use Disorders - SAMHSA

PCP MAT Program

The Alliance’s Enhanced Primary Care Pain Management Program seeks to strengthen the network of PCPs through provision of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) services to their linked members. PCPs with X-licenses offering MAT for linked members will be paid fee-for-service rates for qualifying services.

To learn more, please reference Section 3 of the Alliance Provider Manual or contact a Provider Services Representative.

MAT Peer Support and Services

MAT Advisory Group (MAT-AG) - In a partnership between SafeRx Santa Cruz County, Prescribe Safe Monterey and San Benito County, MAT-AG is a peer support and resource group of physicians, advanced practice clinicians and behavioral health providers focused on improving opioid use disorder treatment and capacity. To learn more, please email [email protected].
California Substance Use Line - Free, 24/7 clinician tele-consultation service from University of California, San Francisco National Clinician Consultation Center.
Clinical Mentoring for Treating OUD - PCSS
UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Program Provider Support Initiative

Provider Training and Continuing Medical Education (CME)/Continuing Education (CE) on Pain and Substance Use Management

Alliance Pain Management Member Benefits