SCHA, CaroNova, and SC Center of Excellence in Addiction Launch Statewide Toolkit for Emergency Department Opioid Treatment
Media Contact: Kyle Petersen
Phone: 803.744.3557
Email: kpetersen@scha.org
(Columbia, South Carolina – May 13, 2026) The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), CaroNova, and the South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction today announced a collaborative initiative to release the SC Implementation Toolkit for Emergency Department Buprenorphine Treatment. This evidence-based resource is designed to empower South Carolina hospitals and clinical teams with the tools needed to provide immediate, life-saving care for patients experiencing opioid use disorder (OUD).
“By expanding treatment for opioid use disorder into emergency departments, we are turning moments of crisis into opportunities for recovery,” said Sara Goldsby, Office Director of the S.C. Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities’ Office of Substance Use Services. “This new resource gives hospitals ways to start care right away and connect patients to community providers who can continue their treatment, strengthening our state’s response to the opioid epidemic.”
This toolkit, developed by a team of South Carolina providers, researchers and policy experts, is a leverageable resource rather than a prescriptive requirement. It focuses on three actionable pillars intended to support hospitals in their existing mission to provide high-quality care:
- Responding to a Low-Barrier Imperative: Initiating buprenorphine in the emergency department (ED) to manage withdrawal and reduce the risk of subsequent fatal overdoses.
- Ensuring Continuity of Care: Leveraging the ED as a “recruiting space” to connect patients to ongoing community-based treatment within 24 to 48 hours.
- Cultivating Destigmatization: Promoting a culture of respect through person-first language and intervention strategies such as naloxone distribution.
The South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction — a partnership between Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), the University of South Carolina, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (BHDD) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) — provides the scientific foundation for the initiative.
“Medication-assisted treatment, including buprenorphine, is an evidence-based approach to treating opioid use disorder,” said Lara Raymond, Director of the Center of Excellence in Addiction. “This toolkit provides practical strategies to support its use as an additional tool in the care continuum, helping emergency settings expand and strengthen treatment options for patients with opioid use disorder.”
The toolkit, which will be housed within CaroNova’s Opioid Resource Library, will be continuously maintained and utilized by healthcare organizations seeking evidence-informed strategies for OUD prevention, treatment, and recovery. Its release is also specifically timed to assist hospitals and local governments as they prepare for upcoming 2026 South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund (SCORF) application cycles. These settlement dollars provide a sustainable pathway for hospitals to fund critical program components, such as hiring Certified Peer Support Specialists to serve as patient navigators.
“At CaroNova, we believe meaningful change happens when evidence, partnership, and action come together,” said Julia Beck, President of CaroNova. “This toolkit equips hospitals with practical tools to initiate treatment, strengthen care connections, and advance a more coordinated, patient-centered response to the opioid crisis.”
“This toolkit underscores the possible role emergency departments can play within a much larger continuum of care,” echoed Melanie Matney, President of the SCHA Foundation. “While recovery requires coordination across healthcare, behavioral health, and community systems, when patients approach hospitals for life-saving emergency care, we have an opportunity to open the door to treatment by meeting patients where they are and partnering with others who support long-term recovery.”
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About the South Carolina Hospital Association
SCHA is committed to making South Carolina one of the nation’s healthiest states by helping our hospitals and health systems provide the best care possible. We advocate for sound healthcare policies and legislation, facilitate collaboration to tackle problems that none of us could solve alone, find and share innovations and best practices, and provide data, education, and business solutions to help our members better serve their patients and communities. Together, we are leading South Carolina to a better state of health. Learn more about SCHA at www.scha.org.
About CaroNova
CaroNova is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that works with healthcare providers, payors, community health advocates, and patients in North and South Carolina to support promising new practices and design, test, and scale successful models for sustainable, systemic change.
About the South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction
A collaboration of Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina, the S.C. Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities’ Office of Substance Use Services, and the S.C. Department of Public Health, the SC COE leverages the expertise and resources of each partner to provide opioid settlement support, provider capacity building, and innovation development for the state’s substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery providers. Learn more about the SC COE at addictioncenterofexcellence.sc.gov.
About the South Carolina Department of Public Health
The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) was created by the state Legislature with the DHEC Restructuring Act of 2023 (Act 60). It is the health component of the agency formerly known as DHEC. DPH has approximately 2,500 positions and 90 locations across the state and is charged with protecting, promoting and improving the health and well-being of everyone in South Carolina. Learn more at dph.sc.gov.