Skip to agency navigation
Skip to main content

Official Website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    The .gov means its official.

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 
    Overdose

    Warm Handoff

    Since 2016, the Department of Drug and Alchol Programs (DDAP) has worked with stakeholders to ensure a "warm handoff" or seamless transition for opioid overdose survivors from emergency medical care to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.

    Background

    DDAP incorporated contractual changes with Single County Authorities (SCAs), the publicly funded county offices that oversee local substance use disorder (SUD) programs, in its 2015-2020 grant agreement that establishes the overdose survivor as a priority population and requires each SCA to create a warm handoff policy.

    Guidelines and Protocols

    In February 2017 (and updated in February 2018), DDAP, along with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians, released guidelines and protocols for implementing warm handoffs.

    Resources