Tester Announces $1 Million to Fight Opioid Use Disorder in Big Horn, Rosebud and Custer Counties

Funding will help expand substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that the Bighorn Valley Health Center in Hardin and its partners will receive $1 million in grant funding to help bolster substance abuse disorder and opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

“Montana has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, and our rural and Tribal communities are particularly vulnerable,” said Tester. “In the face of a global public health crisis, it’s critical that we support programs that are working to keep all Montanans safe and healthy, and this grant will ensure that communities across Big Horn, Rosebud and Custer Counties have the resources they need to prevent, treat, and help folks recover from opioid use disorders.”

The grant funding comes as part of the Department of Health and Human Services Rural Communities Opioid Response Program. This program aims to help health care centers combat rising rates of opioid use disorders in rural areas as well as provide resources for treatment and recovery to individuals within their communities.

Tester has fought relentlessly to provide critical support for Montanans suffering from opioid use and substance abuse disorders. He recently backed the Non-Opioids Prevent Addition in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act to incentivize the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services providers to prescribe non-opioid drugs and devices in outpatient surgery settings in the hopes of preventing opioid addiction. He also introduced a resolution condemning the Trump Administration’s reckless effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which protects Montanans with preexisting conditions and that rural hospitals and clinics rely on to survive.