Promising Practice

Substance Use Network (SUN) Project

State/Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Setting: Community
Population: Women & Maternal
Topic Area: Mental Health & Substance Use Care Coordination
NPMs:

The Substance Use Network (SUN) Project is a NC–based cross-sector care coordination system with the legal infrastructure to securely share protected information across medical, behavioral health, and social services, enabling collaborative evidence-based treatment for pregnant people with substance use disorders. Modeled after CHARM, SUN supports a perinatal substance use disorder (PSUD) clinic and agencies serving pregnant and postpartum women with SUD. Established in 2019, SUN has networks in Cabarrus, Stanly, and Rowan counties and is based on SAMHSA’s collaborative cross-system framework.

SUN partnered with law experts to develop the necessary legal framework for coordinated care, including a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), single Release of Information (ROI), and an Administrative Order, that lawfully authorizes protected information sharing across sectors. This framework enables the network to operate multidisciplinary care-coordination meetings across agencies and sectors. Partners can exchange real-time, case-specific, protected information for consented clients in one setting, producing a unified plan of care. This structure is the unique core of the SUN model, enabling continuity, reducing inefficiency, eliminating duplicative assessments, and allowing providers to collectively consult on cases to meet patient needs.

SUN also addresses the systems in which patients receive care and providers work. SUN partners collaboratively advance policy change, stigma reduction, trauma-informed approaches, and best-practice alignment; provide cross-sector provider training; secure funding to address identified gaps; and elevate the voices of people with personal experience to inform continuous improvement. This system-level work ensures that improvements in coordinated care are sustainable and responsive to community needs.



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CONTACT INFORMATION
The SUDA Institute
Gina Hofert
gina.hofert@sudainstitute.org
jennifer.fulton@sudainstitute.org

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