June 7th, 2023
CoCM SIG Meeting

Drug overdose deaths increased by 30% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary care teams remain uniquely positioned to help address the Opioid Epidemic in the US, with 290,000 primary care medical providers nationwide. As of January 2023, all medical providers with a DEA controlled substance license may now prescribe buprenorphine, a potentially life saving and FDA-approved medication to treat Opioid Use Disorder (OUD.) Many people with OUD also have co-occurring mental health conditions. Using the team-based approach of the Collaborative Care Model, medical providers can integrate behavioral health services into primary care practice, addressing both mental health conditions and OUD in one, coordinated setting.

Presenter: Dr. Jennifer Thomas, MD, FASAM is board-certified in family medicine and addiction physician and currently serves as Medical Director of Integrated Behavioral Health at Morris Hospital in Morris, IL. She completed her medical degree at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, IL in 2007, and completed her family medicine residency at Hinsdale Hospital outside Chicago in 2010.

Dr. Thomas practices in a community-based, rural setting and is passionate about integrating behavioral health services into primary care. She completed the 2018 University of California Irvine Train New Trainers Primary Care Psychiatry Fellowship. As a leader in developing partnerships between academic research settings and community-based providers, Dr. Thomas works closely with the University of Washington AIMS Center. Dr. Thomas serves as Project Lead for Morris Hospital’s partnership with the AIMS Center’s NIMH-sponsored research study CHAMP: Collaborating to Heal Addiction and Mental Health in Primary Care. As an advocate for increasing access to medication for Opioid Use Disorder, particularly in rural settings, Dr. Thomas was part of an inaugural cohort of 5 IL physicians supported by ISAM to become board certified in Addiction Medicine through the ABPM Practice Pathway.

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