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2024 Year in Review

Written by Lucy Connery, MPH

Each year, the MATTERS team prepares an annual report (2023) to reflect on our progress and outline our vision for the future. In 2024, MATTERS continued expanding its referral network and bolstering services to support people with substance use disorder in New York State. The program introduced new harm reduction vending machines into communities across our network, took steps towards expansion into Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and developed a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to gather feedback from the individuals we serve. MATTERS is proud to share our 2024 Year in Review report with our community partners and stakeholders!

Referral Network

MATTERS facilitates rapid referrals to outpatient treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) with a focus on access to medication for addiction treatment (MAT). Emergency departments, inpatient units, first responders, law enforcement, drug courts, telemedicine agencies, and community-based organizations submit referrals, linking individuals with OUD to an outpatient treatment organization of their choice for follow-up. MATTERS’ referral network exponentially grew this year after deploying outreach coordinators into various regions across New York State. In 2024, the outreach team successfully onboarded 160+ new network partners to the referral platform– 30% more than 2023Figure 1 highlights details of onboarded referral partners.

Figure 1: Network Partner Growth

*Law enforcement, correctional facilities, educational settings, first responders, telemedicine, etc.

Today, MATTERS partners with 330+ unique referring sites, 250+ receiving treatment organizations, and 1,000+ pharmacies across NYS. Individuals referred through MATTERS can choose where to follow up from over 2,500 weekly appointment slots available for in-person, fully virtual, or hybrid treatment modes.

This year, MATTERS laid the foundation for the future of the program with the development of a new rapid referral platform. Our enhanced platform will further streamline referral processes, allowing for real-time appointment availability updates and interstate linkage to treatment. MATTERS plans to launch its new referral platform in 2025.

Rapid Referrals & Linkage to Resources

MATTERS provides seamless, comprehensive support for individuals referred through our platform. In 2024, we facilitated 1,500+ rapid referrals to outpatient treatment. With every referral, MATTERS links individuals to several resources including a medication voucher, transportation voucher, peer referral, and follow-up support. Everyone referred through MATTERS is offered a transportation voucher for a free, round-trip ride for their first follow-up appointment. Individuals with no insurance automatically receive MATTERS’ medication voucher to cover the cost of up to 14 days of any combination buprenorphine/naloxone prescription, including Suboxone.

In 2023, approximately 9.5% of the U.S. population was uninsured (Tolbert et al., 2024); however, in 2024 more than half of all individuals referred through the MATTERS platform were eligible for our medication voucher program. This figure speaks volumes about the population that our program serves as well as the value of automatically providing barrier-reducing resources to the uninsured. MATTERS’ suggested protocol calls for a two-week bridge prescription of buprenorphine to ensure patients do not experience a lapse in their treatment. Of the individuals who received the medication voucher, about 82% received a buprenorphine prescription at the time of referral.

In addition to receiving the medication and transportation vouchers, everyone referred through MATTERS can opt-in for an additional peer referral. Peers are people who have lived experience with substance use disorder and work to support others on their journey towards recovery. Nearly 30% of patients elected to be contacted by a peer in recovery for support in 2024.

This year, MATTERS expanded its follow-up support services to include a 24-hour point of contact. Now, when individuals are referred through the MATTERS program, dedicated staff follow up within 24-72 hours. These staff additionally contact patients at 30-, 60-, and 90-days post-referral to assess barriers to treatment and facilitate re-linkage to care if needed. Recognizing that staying engaged in treatment can be challenging, these touchpoints provide critical opportunities to reconnect individuals with essential resources and ensure no one falls through the cracks on their treatment journey. MATTERS’ voucher programs, peer referrals, and follow-up supports are automatically offered to individuals referred through our program and require no extra steps. Referrals are completed in less than five minutes on any smart device and require zero phone calls.

In an effort to improve access to all of our services, including our rapid referral platform, MATTERS launched a mobile app in June 2022. The MATTERS mobile app centralizes resources for treatment, education, and harm reduction supplies, putting life-saving services into the hands of people who need them most. With the extensive growth of our referral network, our app was downloaded on 1,600 devices in 2024 – more than double the number of downloads from the previous year. The MATTERS mobile app was recently redesigned to provide a more streamlined process for accessing treatment and resources. In 2025, the MATTERS app provides resources for New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to improve access to services for substance use disorder. See Figure 2 for screenshots of the updated MATTERS mobile app.

Images of phones with the new MATTERS Network mobile app.

Figure 2: MATTERS Multi-State Mobile App

Telemedicine

Of the 1,500+ referrals in 2024, about 65% came from telemedicine settings. Telemedicine services reduce barriers to medication and treatment for individuals facing significant transportation issues (Lynch et al, 2024). MATTERS partners with UBMD Emergency Medicine to offer telemedicine evaluations for OUD across New York State; in Western New York, MATTERS partners with local agencies to provide these services 24 hours, 7 days a week. Individuals can connect to these telemedicine services to receive an assessment for OUD, medication prescription as applicable, and referral to outpatient treatment. Additionally, MATTERS partners with virtual treatment organizations to accept referrals for follow-up.

Each month, MATTERS telemedicine services completed an average of nearly 300 OUD-related calls in 2024 – a 60% increase from 2023. Telemedicine services not only save individuals hundreds of dollars in health care costs compared to traditional emergency department (ED) visits, but also improve patient success (Lynch et al., 2024). In 2024, members of the MATTERS team published a research article that found individuals who were referred through telemedicine were more likely to attend follow-up appointments compared to those referred from the ED. MATTERS found that 65% of individuals referred via telemedicine showed up at their first outpatient appointment compared to only 32% of those referred from an in-person ED visit (Lynch et al., 2024). They also found that 53% of telemedicine patients were still in treatment after 30 days versus 22% of those referred from an ED (Lynch et al., 2024)Figure 3 outlines telemedicine utilization throughout 2024.

Figure 3: Telemedicine Utilization

Harm Reduction

Throughout the course of 2024, MATTERS continued to expand its harm reduction service offerings. All MATTERS staff are trained and certified to lead Opioid Overdose Response Trainings in the community; these trainings educate on the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to administer naloxone (commonly referred to as Narcan). Additional trainings include how to use fentanyl and xylazine test strips as well as general harm reduction educational sessions. In 2024, MATTERS led 90+ harm reduction training sessions across New York State, 60% more than in 2023. As a result of these trainings, over 680 first responders and community members were trained on naloxone administration and provided with Narcan. Over 7,000 doses of naloxone were distributed through these trainings and community outreach activities.

MATTERS successfully deployed and activated three new harm reduction vending machines in 2024 and, as of 2025, has 17 machines available across NYS. These vending machines are available 24/7, 365 days a year, and provide free supplies such as fentanyl test strips, xylazine test strips, and naloxone. MATTERS’ vending machines are hosted by a variety of community partners, including treatment organizations, fire halls, convenience stores, bus stops, and more. Thanks to the support of these community partners, MATTERS vending machines dispensed over 45,000 overdose prevention items in 2024 alone! Dean O’Gorman, Director of Healing Hearts Collaborative in Cortland, NY stated “MATTERS’ Harm Reduction Vending Machine Program has been a game-changer for our community. By providing life-saving supplies like naloxone directly to those who need it most, this program empowers individuals to take action during an overdose and prevent tragic loss.” MATTERS is proud to provide these resources to communities across New York. Figure 4 shows an image of the current map of vending machines.

MAP LEGEND:

Available Now – MATTERS

 

Coming Soon – MATTERS

 

Community-Based Machine

Figure 4: Vending Machine Map and Legend

In addition to its success in distributing naloxone and deploying harm reduction vending machines across NYS, MATTERS has demonstrated impressive leadership in the distribution of fentanyl and xylazine test strips. MATTERS distributes free fentanyl and xylazine test strips to individuals and organizations across NYS via direct mail. This service launched in August 2022 and has seen great success since. MATTERS distributed over 12 MILLION fentanyl and xylazine test strips in 2024, nearly doubling the amount distributed in 2023! Today, this initiative has distributed over 20 million test strips to individuals and organizations, reaching all 10 regions in NYS as seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: 2024 Test Strip Distribution by Region

MATTERS in 2025

The MATTERS program plans to hit the ground running in 2025 with the launch of a new and enhanced referral platform, the expansion of harm reduction service offerings, and the development of a Community Advisory Committee.

This year, MATTERS will launch a new service offering: a mail-based syringe service program (SSP)! This initiative will improve access to sterile injection supplies for people who use drugs to prevent infections like HIV and Hepatitis C across New York State. MATTERS is excited to launch its SSP and continue to promote safer ways to use substances across our networks. In addition to expanding its services for SUD, MATTERS continues to grow geographically.

As the program reflects on its past and moves into 2025, MATTERS would like to express sincere gratitude for our ongoing partnerships with the University at Buffalo (UB) Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, UBMD Emergency Medicine, NYS Department of Health, and the NYS Office of Addiction Services and Supports. We are proud to work with these regional and statewide agencies to improve treatment access and outcomes for individuals living with OUD and SUD and look forward to seeing our progress continue. Contact the MATTERS team today by calling 765-MATTERS, visiting www.mattersnetwork.org, or downloading the MATTERS Network mobile app on the App Store or Google Play.

Sources

  1. Lynch, J. J., Payne, E. R., Varughese, R., Kirk, H. M., Kruger, D. J., & Clemency, B. (2024, October). Comparison of 30-day retention in treatment among patients referred to opioid use disorder treatment from emergency department and telemedicine settings.  Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 165, 209446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2024.209446 

  2. Tolbert, J. Cervantes, S., Bell, C., & Damico, A. (2024, December 18). Key facts about the uninsured population. KFF. Retrieved from: https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/