Amanda Havish, a representative of Origin Story Health, told the Warren County Fiscal Court on Nov. 25 that the $91,500 the county allocated from opioid‑abatement settlement funds “kept people from being turned away” and directly funded clinical services, credentialing and grant‑writing support.

Havish said the allocation was spent roughly as promised: about $65,000 for direct care, roughly $21,000 for grant writing and about $5,500 for credentialing and contracting work. “Because of you, we treated 110 individuals with substance use disorder and opioid use disorder in this community,” she said.

Havish reported concrete outcomes: 23 people accessed or stayed on medication‑assisted therapy after release from prison; 12 clients reached one full year of sobriety; two clients relapsed but were reengaged in care; eight parents regained custody of children and four families were reunited. She compared the program’s roughly 2% relapse rate to national averages of 40%–60% and said the local results showed the intervention was effective at the individual level.

She described operational barriers that limit local providers’ sustainability, including lengthy insurance paneling delays and piecemeal billing. “Insurance companies have taken months to get us paneled…we’ve been receiving piecemeal erroneous payments,” Havish told the court.

Havish also said Warren County appears to be underserved by state opioid‑abatement grants: she said that of 189 grants distributed to about 130 organizations across the Commonwealth, only one went to Warren County for mental‑health prevention and treatment (she said that award was $27,000). She urged the court to explore ways to help local organizations access Kentucky Opioid Abatement Commission and federal SAMHSA funding, including organizing state‑level advocacy and pursuing projects that local independent practices cannot apply for directly.

To expand capacity, Havish recommended targeted investments and workforce strategies: use abatement funds to hire mid‑level prescribers under physician supervision; create residency‑style graduate training pathways and intern‑to‑career tracks with local universities; leverage telehealth to connect community providers with specialists; explore placing advanced practice nurses in pharmacies or community sites to support MAT; and consider a trust fund to stabilize payment rates for private clinicians so they can treat patients on Medicare or other governmental rates.

Judge and members thanked Havish for the update and requested a follow‑up report with options. The court did not take immediate action on policy changes at the Nov. 25 meeting; members signaled interest in further study and returned the presenter’s recommendations for the court’s consideration.