New Online Home for SNJMATCOE Expands Addiction Resources for South Jersey

The Southern New Jersey Medication for Addiction Treatment Center of Excellence (SNJMATCOE) has a new online home. Its new website will serve SNJMATCOE’s mission to be a resource for South Jersey health care providers interested in expanding or improving addiction care.  

SNJMATCOE was created by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in 2019 to support care for opioid use disorder in the Garden State. Two centers of excellence were created, one in North Jersey which is administered by Rutgers University and one in South Jersey which is administered by the Cooper Center for Healing and the Rowan-Virtua NeuroMusculoskeletal Institute.  

Both the NNJMATCOE and the SNJMATCOE share the same objective: Serve as a resource for anyone interested in implementing evidence-based addiction care in New Jersey.  

The SNJMATCOE offers education several ways: 

Lectures

Twice a month, physicians from within the SNJMATCOE host educational lectures to keep providers abreast of the latest and most impactful addiction medicine knowledge. Upcoming lectures topics include caring for benzodiazepine addiction, methadone, and how to best manage opioid withdrawal symptoms in the hospital setting. 

Shadowing

The SNJMATCOE allows health care professionals—both clinical and non-clinical—to visit the Cooper Center for Healing to shadow experts in addiction medicine as they discuss and care for patients. This opportunity is available for any member of the care team – prescribers, behavioral health clinicians, navigators, nurses, etc. 

Elbow-to-Elbows

Members of the SNJMATCOE will also go offsite to visit health care providers in any capacity to conduct onsite training and meet with care teams. Physicians certified in addiction medicine can present grand rounds to health care teams across South Jersey or consult on complex cases involving addiction or xylazine-associated wounds. 

Addiction Breakfast Clubs

Addiction Breakfast Club meetings are held monthly in the most southern New Jersey counties. Each virtual session includes an educational section in which attendees can learn the latest in addiction medicine from area experts, including providers within the Southern New Jersey Medications for Addiction Treatment Center of Excellence, and an open discussion in which attendees can talk about challenges, successes, or other topics related to addiction medicine in their county.

In addition to our formal education efforts, we offer informal mentorship and advising. Providers are encouraged to reach out for questions related to office-based addiction care, implementing and improving addiction programs, or questions about specific models of care being provided by the SNJMATCOE. 

The site offers information about novel programs and techniques developed by the addiction medicine teams which are based on the best evidence available. This includes our work helping jails and prisons in South Jersey treat people with addictions, and our EMPOWR program which provides medical care and support for those pregnant or parenting who also struggle with substance use.

Visitors can also learn more about how the novel Bupe FIRST program equips EMS teams with new tools to connect those who overdose with long term addiction care. Bupe FIRST started in Camden, and its success has inspired similar EMS-driven programs across the nation.  

Finally, the new site highlights some of the most impactful peer-reviewed studies that have been authored by researchers within the SNJMATCOE and published in peer-reviewed journals. The knowledge created here in South Jersey is used to improve treatment across the country and world for those suffering from addiction.  

If you’d like to receive our newsletter, MATters of Excellence, please head over to our Get Connected page and sign up. MATters of Excellence is produced in collaboration with the NNJMATCOE to serve providers across the Garden State. 

Site improvements are planned for the coming months and will be announced as they go live. A library has been created of training videos, and a collection of recorded lectures and other educational materials will continue to grow.