Pennsylvania Allows County Jails To Expand Available Medication Assisted Treatment Options

December 10, 2025

Pennsylvania authorized county jails to expand allowable uses of millions of dollars previously dedicated to a single addiction medication to now cover a broader range of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatments for incarcerated individuals with substance use disorders (SUD). The change, enacted through Fiscal Code amendments accompanying the state’s 2025-26 budget, allows previously uncommitted funds and Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26-appropriated funds from a decade-old program to support medications like methadone and buprenorphine (Suboxone) in addition to naltrexone (Vivitrol).

The original 2015 program focused exclusively on naltrexone as a non-narcotic SUD treatment option. Since then, the state budget has annually allocated $1.75 million in funding specifically for non-narcotic medication-assisted SUD treatment in county jails. The goal of this one-time expansion authorization under Act 45 of 2025 is to allow Pennsylvania county jails to provide more comprehensive, individualized care to this population. The expanded medications must be paired with non-medication treatment approaches as clinically appropriate and provided to eligible individuals who meet physician-determined clinical criteria for opioid use disorder or alcohol use disorder.

The new budget language permits these previously allocated but uncommitted resources, as well as FY2025-26-appropriated funding, to be used for any FDA-approved medication-assisted treatment when combined with comprehensive substance use disorder services for individuals with opioid or alcohol use disorders.

Recently, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency also opened a new grant solicitation making available more than $7.7 million in funds from Act 80 of 2015, which originally established the Nonnarcotic Medication Assisted Substance Abuse Treatment Pilot Program focused on naltrexone. This is a noncompetitive funding announcement open to the 61 counties in Pennsylvania with a county jail. The grants will be awarded in two rounds, with first-round applications due January 13, 2026, and second-round applications due April 16, 2026.

More information about the grants is posted at New 2025-26 State Budget Expands Access to Lifesaving Medications for Individuals with Substance Use Disorder in the Justice System (accessed December 2, 2025).

A link to the full text of Pennsylvania Act No. 45 Of 2025 https://openminds.com/market-intelligence/resources/111225paact45/ is in the OPEN MINDS Circle Library.

The 2026 Medication-Assisted Substance Use Treatment Grant Program solicitation is available for download from the OPEN MINDS Government RFP & Contract Database at no charge to OPEN MINDS Circle subscribers.

A previous PCCD solicitation released in 2016 resulted in a contract awarded to Cedar Consulting, LLC to provide medication-assisted treatment – Vivitrol for offenders residing in county jails. The RFP is available for download from the OPEN MINDS Government RFP & Contract Database at no charge to OPEN MINDS Circle subscribers. A copy of the winning proposal can be requested at the same page.

For more information regarding the funding opportunity, contact: Communications Office, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Post Office Box 1167, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17108-1167; 717-705-0888; Email: RA-PCCDPressOffice@pa.gov; Website: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pccd

For more information about the program, contact: Jennifer Bowser, Communications, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Post Office Box 1167, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17108-1167; 717-257-6255; Email: jennbowser@pa.gov; Website: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pccd