Texas Takes Action

A Texas-Sized Effort

The opioid crisis is a serious public health concern that impacts communities across Texas. Surveys show that one in four Texans has experienced an opioid overdose or knows someone who has. The crisis isn’t distant — it’s personal, and it’s happening in neighborhoods across the state.

Based on results from panel surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021 with a total of 3,347 adult participants throughout the state of Texas. Participants were selected to reflect current Texas demographics, including age, gender and ethnicity.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is committed to addressing the opioid crisis and protecting the health and safety of all Texans. The Texas Targeted Opioid Response (TTOR) is a public health initiative operated by HHSC through federal funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

TTOR has a mission to save lives and provide lifelong support to Texans with opioid and stimulant use disorders by expanding access to prevention, integrated, treatment and recovery support services. 

Additional information about TTOR and its impact is available by accessing the TTOR interactive dashboard and viewing the TTOR brochure and TTOR Report Card.

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Current TTOR Programs

Prevention
Integrated
Treatment
Recovery

Prevention programs connect communities to resources throughout Texas. They also raise awareness about prescription opioid misuse, distribute the lifesaving overdose reversal drug naloxone and stop substance use disorder before it starts.

Integrated services offer prevention, treatment and recovery strategies in community, clinical and criminal justice settings to improve care for people with substance use or opioid use disorders.

Treatment services allow physicians, clinics and organizations across Texas to offer evidence-based treatment and support to people with opioid and stimulant substance use disorders.

Recovery services increase the availability and effectiveness of support services for people who are in recovery or are seeking recovery by expanding access to housing, employment services and peer support services that benefit people in the community, jails and prisons.

Opioid Surveillance Dashboards

The Texas Health data website aims to increase the visibility of TTOR and opioid-related data in Texas.

Safe Drug Disposal and Community Awareness Program

Helps Texans safely dispose of unused or expired medication by providing safe drug disposal materials.

PAX Good Behavior Game

Equips adults with strategies to help build children’s self-regulation skills, with the ultimate goals of improving classroom behavior, supporting academics, and reducing opioid misuse.

Opioid Misuse Public Awareness Campaign

Increases awareness of opioid misuse and related risks, risk reduction strategies, and opioid use disorder treatment resources.

Overdose Prevention Education and Naloxone

Provides overdose prevention education and access to overdose reversal medication with the goal of reducing overdose deaths.

Educate Before You Medicate

Provides education to pharmacists to improve their ability to counsel patients on the safe use, storage and disposal of medications.

Utilization of the Prescription Monitoring Program

A campaign aimed at increasing prescriber and pharmacist use of the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program.

Texas Opioid Training Initiative

Expands online education and in-person training for health professionals to prevent opioid and stimulant-related harm.

Support Hospital Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Texas

Expands inpatient initiation of buprenorphine, adds peer recovery support services and provides stigma-reduction training to clinical staff in hospitals and other acute care units.

Priority Admission Counselors

Provide screening services to individuals with opioid use disorder, engage them in a process of informed consent, ensure timely access to treatment, and provide overdose prevention education.

Integrated Community Opioid Network

Establishes local community partnerships to identify individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) and connect them to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), recovery support services (RSS) and other services.

Heroes Helpline

Offers a 24/7 treatment referral line to first responders at risk for OUD and provides in-person and online training to raise awareness of substance use, stress and other behavioral health risks.

Overdose Prevention Drop-in Centers

Provide people at high risk for overdose with access to prevention education, overdose reversal medication, and access to MOUD and RSS.

Criminal Justice Opioid Response and Re-entry Support

Improves MOUD and recovery services for people preparing for release from Community Corrections Facilities, ensuring a seamless journey to recovery.

Treatment in Office

Increases access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) outside of the traditional clinic by increasing the number of physicians providing both buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone, expanding opportunities for physicians to obtain DATA 2000 Waiver training, creating a professional peer mentoring network, and expanding the network of state-funded treatment providers.

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)

A web-conferencing platform featuring a network of health care providers who share substance use disorder treatment best practices.

Treatment in Clinic

Increases access to all three U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for opioid use disorder treatment (methadone, buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone), enabling existing clinics to treat primary opioid use disorder (OUD) along with co-morbid conditions such as hepatitis C, psychiatric conditions and wound care at a single site.

Peer Support

A network of peer-based recovery support services organizations that provide peer support for people with opioid and stimulant use disorders. The network also assists people who are incarcerated or living in other rehabilitative settings transition to community-based care.

Medication-Assisted Recovery Communities (MARCs) 

Provide ongoing training and support after the implementation of peer-led medication assisted recovery communities (MARCs), within MOUD treatment programs and office-based opioid treatment programs.

Housing for Opioid Medication Assisted Recovery Expanded Services (Project HOMES) and Evaluation

Provides certified housing and recovery support services through the National Alliance for Recovery Residences for people using medications for medication-assisted recovery and people with a history of stimulant use disorder.

Academic Detailing on Risk Mitigation Strategies

Designs and delivers an academic detailing intervention to educate prescribers on risk mitigation strategies recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Clinical Practice Guide for Prescribing Opioids for Pain.

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