Bridging the GAP: expanding access to SUD treatment - sanford medical center fargo is seeking to expand SUD/COD screening, treatment, and peer support in southeast north dakota and western minnesota

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Sanford Medical Center Fargo $1.875 million under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.243) on September 30, 2025.

The award funds "Bridging the Gap: Expanding Access to SUD Treatment," which expands substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder screening, treatment, and peer support across southeast North Dakota and western Minnesota. The project adds virtual care modalities to the SUD clinic, expands staffing capacity through hiring integrated health therapists, licensed addiction counselors, and peer support specialists, establishes a family support group and relapse prevention track, adds a dual diagnosis provider, increases medication-assisted treatment coverage, strengthens primary care screening, and adds resources to address social drivers of health including housing and food access. Services target individuals ages 18 and over and their families, with clinic sites in Barnes, Cass, Dickey, Grand Forks, Richland, and Stutsman counties in North Dakota and Clay and Douglas counties in Minnesota, encompassing the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area and surrounding rural and frontier communities.

Performance period runs through September 29, 2028, with place of performance at North River, North Dakota 58102.

This project will add virtual care modalities to our SUD clinic, expand staffing capacity, add a family support group and relapse prevention track, add a dual diagnosis provider, increase mat coverage, strengthen primary care screening, and add resources to address patients' social drivers of health. Our project, bridging the GAP: expanding access to SUD treatment, will serve individuals ages 18 and over and their families with substance use disorder (SUD) and CO-occurring disorders (COD) in southeast north dakota (ND) and a small area of minnesota (MN). Specifically, the geographic catchment area for this proposal includes the fargo-moorhead metropolitan area and surrounding rural or frontier communities, with clinic sites in the following counties: barnes (ND), cass (ND), clay (MN), dickey (ND), douglas (MN), grand forks (ND), richland (ND), and stutsman (ND). In reviewing public health data, we identified the following critical needs for our area: • rural individuals have disparate access to providers and substance use treatment. • alcohol and tobacco use are critical issues in our service area. However, less than one fourth of adults with SUD in ND receive treatment. • our service area has higher-than-average rates of serious mental illness and major depressive episodes. • social vulnerability, such as housing challenges and access to healthy foods, are additional social drivers to consider for patients in our area. To address these needs, our proposal includes the following goals and strategies: • goal 1: increase access to care with added staffing capacity, expanded services, and new population-specific programming. O this goal includes hiring additional staff (integrated health therapist, licensed addiction counselors, peer support specialists), implementing intensive outpatient programming that meets asam level 2.1 criteria, adding a family support group and relapse prevention track, adding virtual care modalities, and increasing mat coverage. • goal 2: improve SUD screening procedures across sanford primary care and specialty clinic settings using provider education and intentional follow-up support. O this goal includes standardizing SUD screening across multiple primary care and specialty clinics in our footprint and training staff in the sbirt model. • goal 3: reduce barriers to care and strengthen continuity using peer support, patient navigation, and a holistic model of services. O this goal includes adding peer support specialists to our team, providing coverage for non-traditional hours, strengthening case management procedures, adding a food pantry to our SUD clinic, and implementing a harm reduction-based bridge clinic. • goal 4: advance professional and community SUD/COD awareness and engagement using outreach education to reach populations in need of services. O this goal includes attending community events to educate the public on the availability of SUD services. We aim to serve 250 individuals in year 1, 400 in year 2, and 500 in year 3 (1,150 total).