Outer Cape Health Services Awarded $677K Federal Grant to Expand Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Five-Year Initiative Will Strengthen Addiction Medicine, Primary Care and Recovery Services Across the Lower and Outer Cape

ORLEANS, Mass., October 13, 2026 – Outer Cape Health Services (OCHS) has been awarded $677,045 in first-year federal funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to expand access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder across the 10 Lower and Outer Cape communities it serves.

The award launches the Outer Cape Recovery Access Initiative, an effort designed to integrate addiction medicine more fully into primary care while strengthening behavioral health, nursing, recovery support and community-based care coordination. The initiative is anticipated to continue over five years, with additional federal funding subject to annual award.

“This funding gives us an opportunity to build lasting addiction medicine capacity within primary care,” said Damian K.L. Archer, MD, CEO of Outer Cape Health Services. “For patients, that means being able to receive evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder as part of their overall health care, supported by clinicians, nurses, behavioral health professionals and recovery services working together.”

The initiative will expand OCHS’s ability to provide addiction medicine consultation within its primary care system, particularly for patients with more complex needs. Just as importantly, the project will help strengthen the ability of OCHS’s broader clinical workforce to care for patients with opioid use disorder as part of routine, ongoing primary care.

Funding will support a combination of addiction medicine expertise, nursing and behavioral health care, recovery support, care coordination, telehealth, workforce development and stronger connections with community resources.

A major focus of the initiative will be building sustainable capacity across the organization. OCHS will provide additional education and clinical support to physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, medical assistants and other members of the care team so that evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder can increasingly be incorporated into primary care.

The initiative will also help OCHS broaden its reach over time.

Beginning with expanded services during the first year, OCHS expects the program to grow substantially as clinical capacity develops, with the potential to reach nearly 3,000 people over the five-year initiative.

“This is ultimately about making treatment easier to reach and easier to remain connected to,” Archer said. “Someone seeking help for opioid use disorder should not have to navigate a separate health care system. Our goal is to make this care part of the comprehensive, coordinated primary care patients already receive at Outer Cape Health Services.”

The initiative will serve adults age 18 and older throughout Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown, using OCHS clinical services as well as telehealth, mobile intake, recovery support and care coordination.

About Outer Cape Health Services

Outer Cape Health Services is a federally qualified community health center serving the ten outermost towns of Cape Cod. Its mission is to provide a full range of primary health care and supportive social services that promote the health and well-being of all who live in or visit the region. OCHS provides care regardless of ability to pay. For more information, please visit outercape.org.