Spectrum teams with Milford Regional for medication-assisted treatment

Photo | Grant Welker Milford Regional Medical Center

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Spectrum Health Systems, a Worcester addiction treatment nonprofit, is partnering with Milford Regional Medical Center to provide medication-assisted treatment in the hospital's emergency department.

The partnership will extend to Milford Regional's affiliated patient care sites. The effort, Spectrum said, is meant to bridge a gap in such care between emergency care and primary care for those who need addiction treatment.

Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins, the medical director of the emergency department at Milford Regional, said the partnership would help treat patients as well as open up space in a crowded ER that at times operates at 90% capacity. The hospital will refer patients seeking help for opioid addiction to Spectrum's treatment center at 200 Main St., just over 2 miles from the hospital.

The partnership is one of two expansions of medication-assisted opioid treatment announced by Spectrum this fall, along with a new program at 475 Pleasant St. in Worcester allowing for same-day admissions and immediate access to treatment.

The program, called Collaborative and Transitional Treatment, is being funded by a two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Spectrum was the only program in Massachusetts chosen for the funding, which went through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Addiction Services.