MARYLAND ADDICTION CONSULTATION SERVICE

The Maryland Addiction Consultation Service, known as MACS, has become a cornerstone of Maryland’s strategy to expand treatment capacity for substance use disorders. The organization works to ensure that high-quality addiction medicine support is accessible to every healthcare provider in the state, removing the traditional barriers of cost and geography. Through proactive collaboration and technical assistance, MACS empowers clinicians to deliver compassionate, evidence-based care close to patients’ medical homes.

The organization’s outreach and education program follows a multi-tiered approach to support the state’s healthcare community. At its center is a clinical consultation warmline that gives clinicians real-time, expert guidance on complex cases. MACS also conducts live trainings, webinars and virtual ECHO sessions to build clinical competency statewide, and provides specialized technical assistance that equips teams with the training and infrastructure to administer medications for opioid use disorder. Targeted support extends to high-priority areas, including youth substance use and maternal health.

What distinguishes the program is its cost-free model and its ability to bring specialized clinical support to every corner of the state, regardless of location. Supported by the Maryland Department of Health, Behavioral Health Administration, MACS moves beyond the function of a static resource center by offering active, real-time collaboration that demystifies substance use disorder treatment and builds provider confidence. Its work reaches non-traditional clinical environments such as school-based health centers and community paramedic settings, and its specialist-led education carries no cost to practitioners, placing high-level addiction medicine within reach of rural and urban providers alike.

The impact of this outreach is evident in the more than 6,240 minutes of free, specialist-led education delivered to hundreds of healthcare practitioners across Maryland in 2025. In Frederick County, technical assistance from the service has strengthened emergency response by equipping paramedics to provide critical field interventions. Since 2023, the state has recorded a nearly 50% decline in fatal overdoses. MACS set out to build provider capacity to address the opioid epidemic and expand access to treatment, a goal it has achieved by establishing a system that keeps specialized addiction expertise never more than a call, click or email away.