CarePoint Health’s Camille Broadwater Elected Chair of State Council Focused on Improving OUD Care in EDs

Camille Broawater, PhD, MPH, CarePoint Health’s Quality Manager, has been elected Chair of the Utah State Advisory Council for the Treatment of MOUD (medications for opioid use disorder) in the Emergency Department.

The council’s 20 members are leaders in OUD treatment and have shaped OUD care in emergency departments statewide. Endorsed and supported by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Comagine Health, a national nonprofit organization, the council is comprised of representatives from all of Utah’s hospital partners: CommonSpirit Health, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Health, the University of Utah, the state’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, DHHS’s Office of Substance Use and Mental Health, and the Utah Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. CarePoint Emergency Medicine Physicians Mary McCumber, DO, and John Winkler, MD, are also on the council.

Dr. Broadwater has served on the council for a year and a half. She said CarePoint’s involvement on the council is a win-win for everyone because it has given the practice a voice in shaping MOUD treatment delivery in the ED and has permitted strong relationships to be forged between CarePoint team members and representatives from other MOUD-focused programs — all in the name of providing the best care and referrals for patients who have OUD. New data shows that induction rates at the Utah CommonSpirit hospitals are >94% (n=48) since May.

Furthermore, teams involved in this work have already seen the fruits of their labor in a significant way. Recently, 13 CarePoint-staffed EDs across Utah and Colorado were named to ACEP’s 2023 Emergency Quality Network (E-QUAL) Honor Roll for their “excellence” in treating OUD patients. The initiative was led by CarePoint’s Quality Department — Dr. Broadwater; Matthew Broadwater-Hollifield, MD, Chief Medical Officer; Dylan Luyten, MD, Chief Medical Officer; and LeGrand Rogers, MD, Risk Manager.

The collective work of the more than 32,000 Emergency Medicine clinicians at over 1,400 EDs across the country involved in E-QUAL initiatives has led to $55 million saved through avoidable imaging and hospitalization, a 23% increase in prescribing alternatives to opioids, and a 35% decrease in opioids administered in the ED, according to ACEP.

Dr. Broadwater holds Bachelor of Science in Political Science (University of Utah), Master of Public Health (University of Glasgow in Scotland), and Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health (University of Utah) degrees and has over 25 years of international and domestic public health experience.