$3 Million HRSA Grant to UH Funds Creation of the NE Ohio CARPE Collaborative

CLEVELAND – AUGUST 10, 2020 – University Hospitals announced today the award of a $2.89 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create, in collaboration with St. Vincent Charity Medical Center (SVCMC), the NE Ohio Center for Addiction Research, Prevention, and Education (“CARPE”) Collaborative. This grant, which will be provided over a period of five years, will expand and extend the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in partnership with and alongside the long-standing SVCMC Addiction Medicine Fellowship. Funding will be used to increase the number of board-certified Addiction Psychiatrists and Addiction Medicine Physicians trained in Northeast Ohio.

NE Ohio has made improvement in reducing the loss of lives attributable to opioid use disorders since reaching peak levels in 2017. Collaboration among many stakeholders fueled this progress; however, overdose deaths recently spiked, underscoring the need to continue to press forward with meaningful solutions.

The CARPE Collaborative aims to improve quality of care for individuals with addictive disease (with and without mental health disorders); transform the addiction treatment workforce by targeting the needs of underserved communities; and expand telehealth services in rural counties in Northeast Ohio. The funding provided by the grant will more than double the Fellowship opportunities in Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, greatly increasing the addiction treatment workforce in this region.

“UH and St. Vincent have collaborated since 1990 to train psychiatrists and primary care physicians in the compassionate and evidence-based care of patients and families with substance use disorders,” explained Christina M. Delos Reyes, MD, FASAM, Psychiatrist, UH Cleveland Medical Center and leader of UH’s system-wide strategy for addiction services. “The funding provided by this grant will dramatically increase the number of physicians being trained in Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine in Northeast Ohio, which will improve access to care for patients. This grant is designed as a workforce development program that also emphasizes expanding addiction care to rural areas and integrating addiction care into primary care offices.”

The CARPE Collaborative will be led by Dr. Delos Reyes and her team, in partnership with Theodore Parran, MD, FACP, FASAM and Christopher Adelman, MD, directors of the accredited program at SVCMC. 

“The CARPE Collaborative enables us to take the longstanding relationship between our two organizations to the next level,” said Dr. Parran, Co-Medical Director of Rosary Hall, SVCMC’s addiction medicine program. “This dovetails nicely with St. Vincent’s transformation of our Behavioral Health service line to provide an integrated health model that takes a person-centered approach to care, and expands our service continuum to better meet the needs of the complex population we serve. We will now be able to train doctors from multiple subspecialties such as psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN and emergency medicine to treat addiction. We believe this program will be a real game-changer because we will be able to provide a broader and richer training experience for both Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine Fellows.”

The CARPE Collaborative project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of an award totaling $2.89 million over five years ($415,000 in year one), which is to be awarded annually and is subject to funds available through federal appropriations. The contents of this announcement are those of University Hospitals and St. Vincent and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

###

About University Hospitals

Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 18 hospitals, more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, located in Cleveland’s University Circle, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The main campus also includes University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; University Hospitals MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, a high-volume national referral center for complex cardiovascular procedures; and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.

About St. Vincent Charity Medical Center

St. Vincent Charity Medical Center has been at the forefront of providing acute behavioral health and addiction care for more than half of a century. Rosary Hall offers convenient access to inpatient detoxification services and intensive outpatient addiction care for those living and working in the city, as well as surrounding suburbs.

Cleveland’s first and only downtown hospital, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center is the city’s faith-based, high-quality health care provider. Our distinguished doctors and caregivers are devoted to treating every patient with clinical excellence and compassionate care. Home to the renowned Spine and Orthopedic Institute and the Center for Bariatric Surgery, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center has services in non-invasive cardiovascular, emergency medicine and psychiatric emergency department, primary care, occupational health, behavioral health and addiction medicine. Owned by the Sisters of Charity Health System, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center has provided Care Beyond Medicine since 1865. For more information, visit stvincentcharity.com.

Press Contacts:

• St. Vincent Charity Medical Center: 
  • Rebecca Gallant, 216-288-0239, RGallant@sistersofcharityhealth.org
• University Hospitals:
  • Carly Belsterling, 412-889-8866, Carly.Belsterling@UHhospitals.org