Statement on Governor Newsom’s Passage of Legislation to Strengthen the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Safety Net System

Statement from Aimee Moulin, MD, at the Bridge Center, Public Health Institute, and Matthew Marsom, Chief Program, Policy and Government Relations Officer, Public Health Institute

“CA Bridge and the Public Health Institute commend Governor Newsom for signing a package of bills to dramatically expand access and improve health outcomes for Californians facing substance use disorder and severe mental illness. Specifically, we recognize the promise of AB 2376, which makes it easier for hospitals to use available beds to provide chemical dependency recovery services, including evidence-based medication for addiction treatment. CA Bridge was honored to work alongside Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains on the passage of this bill.

“California has led the nation by investing in efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. Despite the heroic work done throughout the state, 11k Californians per year die from a drug overdose. Addiction is a chronic disease exacerbated by many factors, but these deaths are primarily driven by ineffective response to both legal and illicit opioid supply and by systemic barriers to accessing addiction treatment. CA Bridge has implemented MAT programs in 276 hospitals in California, and more than 110,000 Californians have accepted buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder when it was offered in the emergency setting in a non-stigmatizing manner. 

“When addiction is an emergency, EDs can respond. But after the ED, patients need somewhere to land. That’s where AB 2376 comes in. This bill acknowledges that hospitals offering chemical dependency recovery services can help. Chemical dependency recovery (CDR) services give patients compassionate space and time to enter addiction treatment directly after an ED visit. 

“Right now, there are only about ten licensed chemical dependency recovery hospitals in California, which is woefully inadequate to treat the 1.1 million Californians who visit an ED for an SUD every year. This bill will allow hospitals to use available beds to offer patients CDR services. It’s quite simple—if a hospital has a bed, and a patient needs a bed to begin treatment, the hospital should be able to accommodate the patient. AB 2376 gets us closer to this goal.”