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Virginia SOR manager details $18 million in treatment grants, new eligibility and spending rules
Summary
Iva Brown, SOR program manager at DBHDS, outlined how about $18 million in State Opioid Response grants were allocated between CSBs and new subrecipients, described new three-year cycle rules, funding limits (no security deposits, training and salary caps), and said DBHDS will offer technical assistance and tighter reallocation this winter.
Iva Brown, the State Opioid Response (SOR) program manager at the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), said DBHDS has allocated about $18 million for treatment and recovery services under the current SOR award and described a series of new eligibility and spending rules for subrecipients.
"We have allocated about $18 million for treatment and Recovery," Brown said, noting roughly 63% of that funding (about $11.5 million) went to community services boards (CSBs) and about $6.8 million went to non-CSB subrecipients, many of them new to SOR funding. Brown spoke during a Nov. 14 webinar hosted by the Opioid Abatement Authority.
The funds come from a discretionary federal SOR grant administered through SAMHSA, Brown said; because the award is discretionary, DBHDS ran a competitive process this year and followed parameters set by the federal grant. Brown said SAMHSA designated this award period as a three-year cycle but required annual reapplications, meaning receipt of year-one funds does not guarantee funding in years two or three.
Brown outlined limits and priorities that shaped awards this cycle. DBHDS prioritized nonprofit providers over equally ranked for-profit applicants, required applicant organizations to have been operating at least two years to meet federal rules, and imposed caps and line-item restrictions intended to maximize direct services. Examples Brown listed included a ban on funding security deposits, a food-per-participant cap raised from $3 to $10 per day, a training cap of two people per event and $2,000 per person, and peer recovery specialist salary caps calibrated to education and local cost of living.
"Needle exchange services can't be provided with SOR fund," Brown said, and added that some comprehensive harm-reduction dollars will be routed through the Virginia Department of Health next year so that VDH can distribute those supplies and funds where appropriate.
Brown said DBHDS funded five mobile medication units statewide and is not funding non-mobile vehicle requests at this time. She also highlighted an effort to increase services for pregnant and postpartum individuals (covering up to 12 months postpartum) and described housing supports that exclude security deposits but can cover short-term rent and utilities to stabilize clients leaving recovery housing.
Sustainability was a prominent theme: Brown said applicants were required to include sustainability plans but that many plans were weak. DBHDS plans to provide technical assistance, including regional trainings and billing guidance, and to encourage partnership and resource-sharing among providers. She said new staff with Medicaid-billing experience identified missed billing opportunities and incorrect coding among subrecipients; DBHDS will provide technical help and expected applicants to reduce grant requests by amounts positions can reasonably generate through billing.
Brown described a reallocation review planned for January–February to reclaim unspent funds, noting DBHDS will monitor spending patterns and may pull funding from recipients who have not advanced expenditures (for example, due to extended vacant positions) so that dollars can be redirected to organizations able to deploy them.
On application timing, Brown said DBHDS issued the RFP in July, applications were due in early August, and the funded year began Sept. 30; she said the office aims to post RFPs earlier next cycle. For questions and ongoing contact, Brown provided the shared team mailbox (sorteam@dbhds.virginia.gov) and advised stakeholders to use that address during her upcoming extended leave to ensure continuity.
Adam Rosatelli, director of finance for the Opioid Abatement Authority, opened and closed the webinar and reminded attendees that the recording and presentation would be posted on the OAA website. The OAA plans another webinar on Dec. 12.
Next steps: DBHDS will offer regional technical-assistance sessions, begin a reallocation review in January–February, and expects to publish future RFP timing earlier in the year to give applicants more planning time.
