The Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) was started in 1990, at a time when such services were not otherwise available in Spokane County. Today, SRHD’s OTP is the largest program of its kind in Washington state. To ensure quality services are provided to everyone who needs them, SRHD is exploring what it would mean to separate the Treatment Services division, which includes the OTP, from the health district.
The need for services in Spokane County is great but the district's ability to expand and grow may be limited by the constraints of being organized as a public health special purpose district. It may benefit the Treatment Services Division to operate like a traditional community or non-governmental-based outpatient treatment provider, and to have the ability to respond to funding opportunities quickly. The division has grown to where it is no longer operating as a program within the health district, but rather as a direct service provider in its own right and must have the ability to be nimble and responsive to the needs of the community.
View the Presentation Slide Deck
Spokane Regional Health District held three virtual town hall meetings inviting the public to share their thoughts and concerns and to ask any questions they may have regarding the feasibility study into the possibility of SRHD’s Treatment Services Division separating from SRHD to become part of a private business.
