Strategies

Increase wages and benefits for personal or home care workers, nurse aides, and others who provide direct care to patients in long-term care (LTC) settings

Provide continuous, comprehensive, whole person primary care that uses a coordinated team of medical providers across the health care system

Provide medications such as methadone to individuals diagnosed with opioid use disorder in outpatient, residential, and hospital settings, usually with counseling and behavioral therapies; often called MAT

Regulate mental health insurance to increase access to mental health services, including treatment for substance use disorders

Distribute Naloxone to trained community members and first responders to reverse opioid overdoses

Improve work environments for nurses via establishment of strong nursing leadership, organizational support, etc.

Provide center-based programs that support cognitive and social-emotional growth among children who are not old enough to enter formal schooling

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly

Partner with doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals to incorporate literacy support into regular well-child visits, especially in lower income communities

Establish plans consistent with personal values and current life circumstances that set goals related to having or not having children; goals often change over time