UAB’s $426,000 substance-use grant targets the hospital-to-home gap in Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a $426,000 Alabama Department of Public Health grant for a two-year initiative designed to improve the transition from hospital care to community treatment and recovery services for people with substance-use disorders.
UAB announced the award on July 10, 2026. The program focuses on the period after hospital discharge, when patients may need coordinated clinical care, referrals and support to stay connected with services.
What the grant is designed to provide
UAB says the initiative will provide evidence-based diagnosis and treatment for substance-use disorders while connecting patients with ongoing addiction-treatment and recovery services.
The program also is designed to support access to HIV and hepatitis C screening and treatment, HIV prevention and evidence-based reproductive health care. Those services are intended to be part of the transition process rather than a separate referral pathway.
The grant is funded through the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Pharmacy Division, Bureau of Prevention, Promotion and Support, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Overdose Data to Action in States program.
Who will lead the work
Ellen Eaton, M.D., is leading the grant, while Sarah Hewitt, DNP, will lead the program clinically.
Trained peer-recovery coaches also will be part of the multidisciplinary model. UAB says the coaches’ lived experience is intended to help patients navigate treatment, address barriers to care and remain engaged after discharge.
The announcement describes a newly funded initiative and its goals. It does not establish how many people will be served, when every component will be operating or whether the program has produced measurable outcomes.
Existing Birmingham services provide the backdrop
The grant is separate from existing UAB Medicine addiction-recovery services in Birmingham, which provide context for how hospital-to-community coordination can work.
UAB Medicine says its Addiction Recovery Program includes counselors, social workers, nurses, addiction-medicine physicians and peer-recovery support specialists. Addiction consult social workers and counselors assess aftercare needs across inpatient units and emergency departments, help create discharge plans and connect patients and families with community resources.
The program also offers recovery-support options and medication-assisted treatment when appropriate, along with intensive outpatient and aftercare services.
UAB’s Beacon Recovery program at 530 Beacon Parkway West in Birmingham provides outpatient substance-use-disorder treatment and access to counseling, case management, peer support, medication-assisted treatment and transportation assistance. Its integrated clinic also provides primary care and psychiatric care, while UAB says patients can receive HIV and hepatitis C screening and connections to treatment through the program.
What residents and patients should understand
For people leaving hospital care, the new grant is intended to add coordinated follow-up involving clinical staff, treatment connections and peer support. The model is designed to address practical barriers that can interrupt care after discharge, but the announcement does not yet show how widely it will be implemented or what results it will produce.
Existing UAB Medicine and Beacon Recovery services are documented as operating in Birmingham. The new grant-funded initiative remains a program in development, with its eventual reach and outcomes still to be measured.
Sources
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