Bangor health director details how opioid‑settlement and Ryan White funds are being used for intensive case management

Jen Nunerman, director of Bangor Public Health and Community Services, told the Government Operations Committee that some opioid‑settlement money originally intended for intensive case management was reallocated to other allowable work and staffing needs.

"So that is the $80,000 that we will not spend in the 2 years that we were provided with the funding for," Nunerman said, describing year‑one unspent funds and a separate $46,000 retroactive allocation tied to Ryan White Part C. She said the city had used year‑one funding partly for outreach, testing and counseling staff and that year‑two funding is supporting two staff positions, including one portion of an FTE for outreach and a case manager for people living with HIV who are not part of the outbreak linked to opioid use disorder.

Nunerman emphasized that intensive case management requires small caseloads and frequent contact, saying their teams keep caseloads of about 15–17 clients and meet frequently. She said the department is preparing to bring on an electronic medical records vendor and to bill MaineCare and other payors to make the work more sustainable, while acknowledging that some supports will remain non‑billable and require grant or settlement funds.

Committee members pressed whether the remaining opioid settlement funds should be held for continuity or used as a local match for a proposed Maine Housing pilot. Nunerman recommended using the unused local funds as the match for the Maine Housing Project Hope proposal and flagged that incoming settlement payments to the city are projected to decline in coming years.