Substance Abuse Navigators Legislation by Senator Roth Passes Senate Health Committee

Sacramento— A critical bill in California’s fight to end the opioid epidemic, by Senator Richard D. Roth (D-Riverside), Senate Bill (SB) 1385, the Substance Abuse Navigators Legislation, co-authored by Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-North Coast), has passed the Senate Health Committee.

“Our state’s opioid epidemic is tragic and requires a comprehensive, every tool in the toolkit approach, for which the State Senate is leading the charge,” said Roth, Chair of the Senate Health Committee. “SB 1385 provides a pathway to sustain important navigator positions in California’s emergency rooms, pairing patients suffering from substance abuse issues with a navigator who guides them through the process to seek and receive help, including following their hospital stay.”

“Fentanyl is the most addictive drug America has seen. The State has already invested over $30 million in enhanced enforcement, and it has resulted in getting more than 40,000 pounds of fentanyl off the street in communities all throughout California, and more resources are on the way. We must do more to expand treatment and services for residents who are addicted to this deadly drug,” said McGuire. “Senator Roth is leading the charge to give healthcare providers and community health workers on the frontlines of this crisis the resources they desperately need. Senator Roth and the Senate’s Safer California Plan continues California’s investment in enforcement and expands desperately needed treatment services ensuring folks get the help they need.”

According to the California Department of Public Health in 2022 nearly 6,500 Californians died from opioid-related overdoses and over 21,000 Emergency Department (ED) visits in California were related to an opioid overdose, and between 2019 and 2021, California’s opioid-related deaths skyrocketed 121%.  The vast majority of these deaths were linked to fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid. The opioid epidemic remains a public health crisis and most people with opioid use disorder do not receive effective treatment and often face barriers to accessing such treatment.

The California Bridge program (CalBridge) recognizes the important role hospital EDs can play in linking patients with opioid use disorder to treatment and in preventing fentanyl overdose deaths. CalBridge accomplishes this by combining immediate access to medication for addiction treatment with support from a substance use counselor or navigator who links the patient to ongoing care. What began as a pilot program utilizing federal funding in 52 hospitals, is now a program that has been implemented across 276 hospital EDs. In order to sustain these programs, SB 1385 allows the substance abuse navigators placed in the ED to bill the Medi-Cal program under the newly implemented Community Health Worker benefit.

Research shows that the ED can be a critical access point to treatment for those with a substance abuse disorder. In fact, the study, from the Public Health Institute’s CalBridge and partners, found that patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) were twice as likely to continue receiving medical treatment for addiction if treatment was started in the ED.