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

Support programs that provide small loans, usually to individuals with lower incomes, to start or expand a small business, often with business development training and other technical assistance

Maintain the current legal age when an individual can purchase alcoholic beverages; currently 21 years in all states

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.

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

Offer a refundable tax credit to working families with qualifying children or other dependents that receive care outside the home (e.g., a spouse with disabilities)