Codington County Allocates $35,000 in Opioid Settlement Funds to Human Service Agency for Lifesaving Treatment
- Steve Jurrens
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - In a unanimous vote during Tuesday morning’s regular session, the Codington County Board of Commissioners approved the allocation of $35,000 from the National Opioid Settlement Fund to support the Human Service Agency’s (HSA) Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program. The funding is designed to preserve local access to vital, evidence-based recovery services for individuals struggling with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in the Watertown area.
Kari Johnston, Executive Director of the Human Service Agency, appeared before the board to outline the severe logistical hurdles the program faces due to upcoming state policy changes. Johnston emphasized the unique and essential nature of HSA’s operation, noting that they run the only comprehensive prescribing recovery program in the region.
“We are the only prescribing program in Watertown,” Johnston told commissioners. “We have an accountability program where a person who has an opioid use disorder would meet with an addiction counselor first. That addiction counselor would do a full addiction evaluation... The program would entail that the individual coming to meet with a drug and alcohol provider for a half hour and then also with the prescriber for a half hour each week.”
Johnston explained that the program utilizes highly effective, long-acting injectable medications such as Sublocade, Vivitrol, and Brixadi, which significantly suppress physical cravings and improve long-term sobriety success rates.
HSA staff estimates the program maintains an approximate 80% success rate in keeping participants engaged in recovery as they gradually taper down their level of treatment intensity. To ensure compliance and prevent diversion, the agency performs strict accountability measures, including random urinalysis and pill counts.
The urgent request for $35,000 comes in response to an abrupt policy shift by South Dakota Medicaid. Effective June 1, Medicaid will no longer reimburse for these critical addiction recovery injections when distributed through standard local or long-term care pharmacies. This forces healthcare providers like HSA to pivot to a “buy and bill” model, which requires significant up-front capital to purchase a bulk inventory of the expensive medication before billing Medicaid for reimbursement.
“We have to resort to doing what’s called buy and bill, which means we would buy a bunch of medication, then we, HSA, would have to bill their Medicaid to make sure that we get reimbursed for that,” Johnston explained. “This would at least give us a great place to start that we wouldn’t have to disrupt the service of those individuals who are currently on that injection.”
The county currently holds $88,086.32 in its opioid settlement fund allocation, making the $35,000 request entirely manageable within its existing balance. Commissioner Lee Gabel introduced the motion to approve the funding, which Myron Johnson seconded.
Commissioner Randy Schweer noted, “The thing that I like about this, Kari, is the fact that you’re tracking it... so there’s some validity to what you’re doing.”
The motion passed with all commissioners voting in favor, securing immediate funding to transition the MAT program into its new operational model without interrupting patient care.
