// Stigma-Free Addiction Treatment Pharmacy Opens In Tennessee

Stigma-Free Addiction Treatment Pharmacy Opens In Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Cordant Health Solutions®, a leader in providing innovative tools for monitoring patients in behavioral health programs, announced the expansion of its addiction pharmacy program with a new location in Nashville.

Cordant’s pharmacy program focuses on supporting clinicians who treat patients for opioid use disorder using buprenorphine and other medications. The program works by delivering buprenorphine to the patient during the time of their treatment visit or for telemedicine programs, to the patient’s home.

"We started offering Cordant’s program six months ago when we switched our addiction treatment to telemedicine because of COVID-19," said Stephen Loyd, M.D., chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery. "Moving to telemedicine can be challenging for addiction treatment patients, so it becomes even more important they receive their medication. Cordant’s home delivery option makes that happen."

Tennessee has experienced a surge of overdoses—between January and June of 2020, there have been 309 fatal drug overdoses in Nashville alone, which is a 47% increase compared to the first six months in 2019. Last year was the deadliest year on record.

"I think two of the biggest reasons people relapse is stigma and lack of access to medication," said Loyd. "The shame and stigma patients feel when going to a local pharmacy because of the way the staff treats them and the fact that most pharmacies do not carry this type of medication regularly is a real problem. Cordant removes both barriers and they treat patients with dignity and respect."

Over 200 of Cedar Recovery’s addiction treatment patients use Cordant’s pharmacy program to receive their buprenorphine consistently in a stigma-free environment. Cordant’s program currently serves 14 states, with nearly 6,000 patients using the in-office program or home delivery option. 

"Our program had positive outcomes before the pandemic, but it is having a bigger impact now because of our program’s model," explained Sue Sommer, president and CEO of Cordant. "Delivering a patient’s buprenorphine to their clinic eliminates the need for a trip to a pharmacy, and our home delivery model fits well with telemedicine. We are excited to offer this program along with our laboratory monitoring in Tennessee."