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increase the likelihood of patients engaging in opioid use <br />disorder (OUD) treatment within thirty days. <br />The legislature recognizes the Department of Health's concern <br />that it is essential to ensure that patients who receive <br />buprenorphine in the field have access to follow-up treatment <br />within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The legislature <br />therefore intends to establish a phased pilot program, limited <br />initially to paramedics and counties with identified treatment <br />linkage capacity. <br />The purpose of this Act is to: <br />1. Authorize paramedics, under Department of Health -approved <br />protocols, to administer buprenorphine following naloxone <br />in cases of suspected opioid overdose; <br />2. Require the Department of Health to verify and designate <br />treatment centers that can accept patients within <br />twenty-four to forty-eight hours of an EMS encounter; <br />3. Implement the program as a phased pilot in one or more <br />counties; and <br />4. Require the department to evaluate and report outcomes to <br />the legislature. <br />