Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board (IORAB)
Medical & Research Working Group Meeting
April 1, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Virtual Meeting Held Via Zoom
MEETING MINUTES
Medical and Research Working Group Members
Katherine Austman, MD, Gibson Area Hospital and Health Services (Chair)
Adrienne Adams, MD, North Shore
Geoff Bathje, PhD, Sana Healing Collective, Chicago Recovery Alliance
Lia Daniels, Illinois Hospital Association (IHA)
Michael Dennis, PhD, Lighthouse Research Institute, Chestnut Health Systems
Nicole Gastala, MD, Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS)/Substance Use Prevention & Recovery (SUPR)
Michael Isaacson, Kane County Health Department
Katharine (Kitty) Juul, Southern Illinois University (SIU)
Dan Lustig, PsyD, MA, Haymarket Center
Jessica Perillo, Health Management Associates
Doug Smith, PhD, University of Illinois
Katie Unthank, Egyptian Health Department
Brent Van Ham, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Lindsay Wilson, CDC Foundation
Leslie Wise, PhD, Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH)
Welcome and Roll Call
Dr. Austman opened the meeting and welcomed the group. Joanna Prout, PhD, facilitator, Advocates for Human Potential (AHP), Inc., conducted roll call. All members were present except for Adrienne Adams, Geoff Bathje, Jessica Perillo, and Lindsay Wilson. Quorum was established.
Review and Approval of January 14, 2025 Meeting Minutes
Dr. Austman called for a motion to approve the January 14 meeting minutes. Michael Isaacson made a motion. Leslie Wise seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of approving the minutes. The motion passed.
Working Group Appointments
Barbara Hobrock, the Director of External Engagement at IDHS, said Working Group members should have received an email that included a nomination form. Working Group members must complete these forms and return them to Ms. Holbrock by Thursday, April 4. These forms are needed to ensure that the Working Group meets the requirement that all members be appointed by the Secretary.
Review of Funding Process
- Ms. Verella Olguin, State Opioid Settlement Administrator (SOSA), stated that there were no new recommendations to present to the Medical & Research Working Group this quarter. She encouraged the Working Group to continue developing ideas for proposals. Ms. Olguin stated that the next meeting of the IORAB will be held April 24.
- Ms. Olguin reviewed the process used to create recommendations and move them through the approval process. First, the IORAB Working Groups develop and finalize recommendations which are sent to the SOSA for review. The SOSA considers the following criteria to determine if a recommendation should move forward: it must provide general benefits across the state, it must not duplicate existing services, and the services recommended must qualify as an approved use of funds for services that cannot be funded via existing resources including Medicaid. The SOSA may edit the recommendation based on the Opioid Settlement Agreement and share these edits with the Working Groups for approval. The SOSA then submits the recommendation and any supporting information to the IORAB. Funding amounts for recommendations are determined based on estimated costs. The IORAB reviews, discusses, and then votes on whether a recommendation should be reviewed by the Steering Committee or should be returned to the Working Group for more information. In the next step, the Steering Committee reviews the recommendation for alignment with the State Opioid Action Plan and determines if it can be funded with settlement funds. The Steering Committee votes on whether the recommendation should be approved. Recommendations that are approved by the Steering Committee go to the Attorney General (AG) for certification.
Discussion:
- A Working Group member asked how much money remained to be spent in the next three fiscal years (FYs) to determine if there was an opportunity to present additional recommendations. Ms. Olguin stated that there was funding available for additional recommendations. She will determine the amount of money remaining and provide it to this Working Group.
- A Working Group member asked if the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the contingency management recommendation that had a budget of $1.5 Million had been developed or released. Ms. Olguin stated that the contingency management NOFO is scheduled to be released by April 9.
Priority Recommendations for the IORAB
- Dr. Austman informed the Working Group that the Steering Committee did not approve the Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) recommendation during their February 25th meeting. The Steering Committee returned the OPS recommendation to the Working Groups and asked them to create a research-based justification for the amount of funding requested. A Review Team was created and has been meeting to complete this research and report back to the Steering Committee.
- Dr. Austman stated that there were no recommendations for the Working Group to review at this meeting. She asked the Working Group for their thoughts about recommendations they would like to work on.
- A Working Group member said that SUPR had received a permanent reduction in funds for recovery homes and asked if this Working Group should develop a recommendation to use remediation funds to replace this money. The Working Group discussed that access to housing is a social determinant of health and access to transitional housing has been shown to facilitate recovery and be a cost-effective investment.
- A Working Group member asked if opioid remediation funds were supporting recovery homes. A Working Group member mentioned that the Community Outreach and Recovery Supports (CORS) program might provide housing. Another Working Group member said the Working Group should check with SUPR before making any recommendations related to recovery housing. SUPR is working on ways to address the funding reduction and there may be greater clarity about this situation at the next Working Group meeting.
- A Working Group member shared the link to the CORS NOFO and stated that the application period for this award had ended. They stated that the NOFO did seem to allow funding to be used for recovery homes. A Working Group member stated that they could consider reopening or adding funding to this NOFO to further support recovery homes.
- Dr. Austman stated that there have been concerns that opioid settlements funds are not being used due to a lack of infrastructure. She asked if the Working Group thought that more education for providers or other organizations about how to use opioid settlement funding might be helpful.
- A Working Group member stated that in southern Illinois there are smaller organizations that believe they do not have the administrative capacity to manage larger grants. The Working Group member recommended that a larger organization could receive grant funding and then distribute it to smaller organizations through sub-contracts. She stated that it is important to help smaller organizations grow in their capacity to use grant funds.
- A Working Group member stated that there can be an assumption that grant funding will go to only one organization within a system of care. Including language in the NOFO that multiple organizations can apply for a grant may improve access for smaller organizations.
- A Working Group member noted that hundreds of millions of dollars may be cut from the budget, including funding for essential behavioral health services. The Working Group member asked if the Working Group should consider developing recommendations to use remediation funds to support services that lose funding. The Working Group member stated that a needs assessment that showed which core services have lost funds would help the Working Group create recommendations that would address gaps in core services.
- A Working Group member agreed that they should consider recommending that remediation funds be used to fill gaps in core services but noted that recommendations must align with the State Opioid Action Plan and the Allocation Agreement.
- A Working Group member stated that a lot of state boards are considering how to adjust following funding cuts. She stated that it might be helpful to have an IDHS representative inform them about the status of state funding for behavioral health. The Working Group member noted that state boards may be able to shift the allocation of remediation funds without a recommendation from the IORAB.
Public Participation
No members of the public participated in the meeting.
Adjourn
- Dr. Austman called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Doug Smith made a motion. Michael Dennis seconded the motion. All members voted to approve the motion. Dr. Austman adjourned the meeting.
- The next meeting of the IORAB Medical & Research Working Group will be held on June 24, 2025 from 12:00 -1:00pm.
