22-841m Reduce Overdoses and Save Lives With These Programs and Resources
Date: 10/14/22
Hospitals and emergency departments are in a key position to offer interventions.
Every day, there are more than five fatal drug-related overdoses throughout Los Angeles County, driven largely by fentanyl and methamphetamine use.1
Act now: Tips for hospitals and emergency departments
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) requests hospitals take part in the following system-wide activities to mitigate the ongoing overdose crisis:1
- Identify and engage people who use drugs who are in the emergency department and hospital.
- Prescribe naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication, to take home for patients who use substances and are at-risk for overdose.
- Distribute naloxone to caregivers, visitors and other community members who are at-risk for overdose or who are positioned to reverse overdoses using naloxone.
- Naloxone prescriptions often go unfilled at community pharmacies. Community distribution of naloxone, outside of the pharmacy supply, is authorized at hospitals and medical clinics.
- No-cost, non-pharmacy supplies of naloxone can be obtained from the California Department of Health’s Naloxone Distribution Project.
- Provide timely treatment for patients with opioid use disorder with medications, such as buprenorphine or methadone.
- Eligible prescribing clinicians can sign up online to obtain a Drug Enforcement Agency X-waiver. The waiver permits treating up to 30 patients with buprenorphine for opioid use disorder outside of the hospital at the same time without an added training requirement.
- Apply for funds to support care navigation with the California Department of Health Care Services’ CA Bridge Behavioral Health Navigator Program. Emergency departments can apply for $120,000 for substance use disorder care navigators to engage patients and refer them to needed addiction, mental health and social services.
- Refer patients to specialty substance use disorder treatment services managed by the DPH’s Division of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (DPH-SAPC), which offers medications and other types of addiction treatment to Medi-Cal beneficiaries and low-income individuals who do not have insurance.2
Resources for clinical and administrative leads1
The following chart lists resources for hospital clinical and administrative leaders.
Program | URL |
|---|---|
California Department of Health’s Naloxone Distribution Project | Apply at www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/CSD_YV/NDP/DHCS-5280.pdf. |
CA Bridge Behavioral Health Navigator Program | Apply for funding at cabridge.org/solution/our-work/ca-bridge-navigator-program. |
DPH-SAPC specialty substance use disorder treatment system
| Learn more at publichealth.lacounty.gov/sapc. DPH-SAPC works with the CA Bridge Program and a coalition of hospitals and emergency departments across the County that are applying these recommendations. DPH-SAPC is available as a resource to advance the provision of this lifesaving care to people in the community. |
Additional information
Providers are encouraged to access Health Net’s provider portal for real-time information, including eligibility verification, claims status, prior authorization status, plan summaries, and more. If you have questions regarding the information contained in this update, contact the applicable Health Net Provider Services Center within 60 days at:
Line of business | Phone number | Email address |
|---|---|---|
EnhancedCare PPO (IFP & SBG) | 844-463-8188 | |
Health Net Employer Group HMO, POS, HSP, PPO, & EPO | 800-641-7761 | |
IFP (CommunityCare HMO, PPO, PureCare HSP, & PureCare One EPO) | 888-926-2164 | |
Medicare (Individual & Employer Group) | 800-929-9224 | |
Cal MediConnect – Los Angeles County | 855-464-3571 | |
Medi-Cal | 800-675-6110 | N/A |
1 Information taken or derived from Hospital Overdose Prevention letter to hospital administrators. Director Barbara Ferrer, County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health. September 7, 2022.
2 Any transfer of information or data between providers about a member’s opioid use disorder or substance use disorder must first be authorized by the member before transferring the information or data between providers.
This information applies to Hospitals.
For Medi-Cal, this information applies to Los Angeles county.