ODH to allocate $5M in Medicaid funds to counties for drug efforts

The Ohio Department of Health has announced that it will distribute $5 million in federal funds to county agencies to curb prescription and opiate drug abuse (Source: “$5M to help curb drugs,” Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 4, 2010).

The money will be devided among 50 county alcohol, drug-addition and mental health services boards statewide and will be used to treat an estimated 3,000 people.

The $5 million comes from increased federal reimbursement for Medicaid, with $4.5 million of the funds being divided using the state’s usual formula for funding county agencies. However, the remaining  $547,860 will be given to the 20 counties, mostly in southeastern Ohio, that have the highest per capita  incidence of accidental drug deaths.

The Ohio death rate from accidental drug poisoning increased more than 300 percent from 1999 to 2007. It is the leading cause of injury death in Ohio.