On September 4, 2025, the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust held its first public listening session, allowing members of the public to share testimony to members of the Trust. IRETA’s Executive Director, Dr. Eric Hulsey, registered for the session and provided testimony. In his remarks he noted his prior work across the country with opioid settlement commissions, county associations, and state and county behavioral health agencies responsible for managing opioid settlement funds.
Dr. Hulsey communicated that he led the development of the Opioid Settlement Principles Resource and Indicators (OSPRI) tool published at the Johns Hopkins, which supports governments in aligning their spending with the Opioid Settlement Principles and evidence-informed practices. He explained that many counties had been struggling to plan for and select interventions that were in alignment with the approved uses for the funds described in “Exhibit E” of the national settlement agreement. Tools like OSRI were designed to help counties and states plan for effective interventions, demonstrate transparency to the public, and, most importantly, keep “our eye on the prize” of reducing overdose risks.
“Times change, the drugs change, the risks change, and the interventions change,” Dr. Hulsey said. He stressed that Pennsylvania must adapt settlement spending to the current landscape, ensuring that resources are directed where they can have the greatest impact. To that end, he offered himself and IRETA as a resource for the Trust and for counties across the Commonwealth, whether by sharing decision-support tools, connecting local leaders to national networks, or pointing them toward templates and reporting models already in use elsewhere.
