PHI Launching the Opioid Safety Accelerator Program

The California Opioid Safety Network, based in PHI’s Center for Health Leadership and Practice, is launching an accelerator program for 23 local opioid safety coalitions. Spanning 31 California counties, coalitions consisting of dedicated stakeholders—parents, physicians, pharmacists, and professionals in public health, mental health, and law enforcement—will receive expert coaching, technical assistance and networking opportunities to accelerate their impact.

Founded by the California HealthCare Foundation, the California Opioid Safety Network is a community of coalitions working toward the shared goal of reducing opioid addiction and deaths. A 2017 PHI assessment of the network, Tackling an Epidemic, revealed that local coalitions are having a big impact. Among the 16 CHCF-supported opioid coalitions representing 23 counties across the state, over 90% have introduced safer prescribing guidelines and more than 75% have increased access to naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses. More than 50% expanded use of medication-assisted addiction treatment.

To learn more about opioid safety in California, get involved in a local coalition and sign up for the Network newsletter, visit www.californiaopioidsafetynetwork.org.