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State gets more aid to fight opioid crisis

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is getting another $26.5 million in federal aid to help fight opioid addiction, and one focus will be to establish more medication-assisted treatment programs in rural areas, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration said.

The money is the second installment of a two-year grant to help states fight the opioid crisis, and Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said it’s the primary funding for prevention and treatment.

Secretary Jennifer Smith of Wolf’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs said county public health agencies that received a big portion of the money last year, primarily for treatment programs, will be freer to use it for prevention programs in the coming year.

She said last year’s federal aid was more heavily restricted for treatment programs.

Wolf’s administration also plans to expand the reach of medication-assisted treatment programs that it funded last year with federal aid. That money helped set up four programs anchored by regional health systems.

The administration plans to establish at least three more regional programs through health systems, with a focus on extending treatment into rural areas through physicians’ offices, officials said.

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