We're Hiring | Study: Substance Use Navigator Support Doubles Likelihood of Successful Addiction Treatment | Updated Tool: Telehealth Policy Finder
Public Health Institute
PHI is dedicated to promoting health & equity for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world.
Study: Substance Use Navigator Support Doubles Likelihood of Addiction Treatment & Lowers Rate of Unplanned Readmissions
Emergency departments are uniquely positioned to provide 24/7 access to evidence-based addiction treatment and connection to continued care that saves lives. New research led by PHI’s Bridge Center, in partnership with Marshall Medical Center, has shown that hospitalized patients with alcohol and/or opioid use disorders who received a consultation from a substance use navigator were twice as likely to begin FDA-approved medications used for addiction treatment and experienced a 64 percent lower rate of 30-day unplanned readmissions compared to those who did not receive navigator support. Importantly, these findings highlight that such significant results are possible in small, rural hospitals. "This study reinforces the value of supporting evidence-based treatment and patient navigation directly into hospital care," said PHI's Arianna Campbell, PA-C, MPH, lead study author and co-founder of PHI’s Bridge Center. "When hospitals take a medication-first approach and offer consults from navigators with lived experience, patients are more likely to engage in a sustainable treatment plan with a path to recovery." Read more →
Join: Building CA's Addiction Treatment Access Networks
PHI’s CA Bridge facilitates statewide addiction treatment access networks to ensure every community in California is ready and able to provide addiction treatment to every person in need. Join the next meeting this Wednesday, December 3, from 9-10:30am PT, to learn about statewide efforts to expand low-barrier treatment access and participate in breakout sessions to connect directly with peers in your region. Register →
Elevate Your Work: Building Greater Impact with PHI Expertise
The Public Health Institute and its programs offer a wide range of fee-for-service opportunities, grounded in evidence-based practices delivered by experienced public health professionals, researchers and technical experts. Whether you are a health department, nonprofit or private entity, these services provide flexible, high-quality solutions to meet evolving public health needs and can be customized to fit your scope and timeline. Review services in research and evaluation, leadership development, capacity building, communication dissemination and more. Explore the offerings →
Upcoming Webinars, Events & Trainings
Lunch & Learn Series: Strategies to Support Mental Health & Resilience: TODAY, December 2 & Tuesday, December 9 | 12-1pm PT | $15 per session. PHI's Cypress Resilience Project provides training to support the inherent resilience of individuals and communities who are managing trauma, experiencing grief and navigating mental health challenges. Their final lunch & learn series of 2025 will feature workshops on moral distress and how to repair and reconnect with loved ones. Register →
Evaluating the Impact of the Environment on Pediatric Cancers: Monday, December 8 | 12-1pm PT. Join PHI’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units and its Childhood Cancer and the Environment Program to learn more about pediatric cancers and the environment, featuring Dr. Michael Scheurer, Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Scheuer's research focuses on identifying environmental and genetic risk factors for pediatric cancer, including childhood brain tumors, and treatment-related and long-term conditions associated with cancer survivorship. Join →
When Hate Hits Home: Understanding Californians' Experiences with Acts of Hate: Tuesday, December 9 | 12-1pm PT. According to the 2024 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), 1 in every 11 Californians ages 12 and older—approximately 3.1 million people—said they experienced an act of hate in the past year. Join researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and PHI for a presentation on two new studies that take a deeper look at experiences with hate and use of and access to support. PHI's Valerie Steinmetz, PhD, will present findings from a qualitative study based on interviews with CHIS respondents who shared their personal experiences with hate acts, including the ongoing physical and mental health impacts and how their finances and personal lives were affected. Sign up →
Register: 2025 Rural ACEs Summit, "It Takes a Village: Building Systems of Care that Center Youth & Families": December 9-10 | Redding, CA | $250 regular rate, $225 group rate for three or more. The 4th Annual Rural ACEs summit—hosted by PHI's Population Health Innovation Lab and its Northern ACEs Collaborative—will bring together change makers, partners, practitioners and community members from diverse backgrounds to share insights, discuss challenges and collaboratively explore and understand the ecosystem of care that supports youth and families in rural Northern California. This year’s theme will focus on strengthening behavioral health and justice systems for youth through integrated approaches that expand collective understanding of systems of care. Registration closes Wednesday, December 3. Learn more →
When the Holidays Hurt: How to Support Ourselves and Others Through Grief Including Loss Associated with Substance Use, Addiction and Overdose: Wednesday, December 10 | 11:30am-12:30pm PT. Grief isn’t just bereavement—it is experienced in many types of life events where we feel a sense of loss. When we experience loss, the holidays and major life events can be a challenge. Join PHI's Dialogue4Health and Cypress Resilience Project on Wednesday, December 10, for a training exploring why the holidays are difficult for grievers and what actions we can take to help someone living with loss. Presenters will discuss what is and isn’t helpful when we are supporting those around us, and offer some practical ways to show up for the folks we care about—including ourselves. Join →
Expanding the Impact of Pharmacy Services Through Recovery Housing for Substance Use Treatment: Tuesday, December 16 | 11am-12pm PT. PHI's Alcohol Research Group hosts the Studying Treatment & Addiction Recovery Residences (I-STARR) webinar series, which explores how to address challenges to providing and conducting research on medication for opioid use disorder (OUD) in recovery housing. Recovery housing can be used both following and while individuals are receiving substance use treatment. This webinar presents findings from a mixed-methods study collecting data from mobile pharmacy patients with OUD and community pharmacists regarding their awareness of and experiences with recovery housing. Register →
Suicide Prevention and Intervention for AAAI Youth Webinar Series: Trends and Unseen Risks: Tuesday, December 16 | 12-1:30pm PT. PHI's Lotus Project will host the first webinar of a new series, Suicide Prevention and Intervention for Asian American & Asian Immigrant (AAAI) Youth, later this month. This three-part series will focus on culturally responsive prevention and intervention strategies for suicide among AAAI youth. Speakers will provide an overview of recent research on suicidal ideation, suicide and risk factors among AAAI adolescents in California, highlight systemic and cultural barriers to accessing high-quality care and showcase successful community efforts advancing suicide prevention. Join →
Certified Access Specialist (CASp) Exam Preparation Course: January 12-16 | 8am-12pm PT Daily | $1600. A CASp is a qualified individual who is certified by the California Division of the State Architect to review buildings and facilities for compliance with state and federal construction-related accessibility codes and standards. Disability experts at PHI's Beyond Consulting offer this five-day online training course, featuring a comprehensive review of the relevant knowledge, skills and abilities covered on the examination to become a CASp in California. It will also explore California laws and relevant federal disability laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. Learn more →
More from PHI
Updated Tool: National Telehealth Policy Finder: Across the country, no two states are alike in how they define and regulate telehealth. PHI's Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) has released an updated Telehealth Policy Finder tool, which compiles related laws and regulations across all 50 states and D.C., as well as at the federal level. CCHP's Fall 2025 report examines how states have steadily refined and stabilized their telehealth policies, moving from emergency-driven flexibility—implemented at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—to more permanent, structured frameworks. Read the report and explore the tool →
Parents as Role Models for Their Children: CIRH Academy is an educational initiative of PHI’s Center for Immigrant and Refugee Health (CIRH), designed to provide culturally-tailored trainings on immigrant and refugee topics to enhance the health and wellness outcomes for immigrant and refugee communities. Last month, presenter Hasina Bharam hosted a discussion on how parents’ daily actions can shape their children’s understanding of the world. This video is in Dari and includes a presentation followed by a Q&A session; auto-generated translation is available. Watch the recording →
Podcast: Stewarding California Lands and Future with Resilience and Regeneration: On Flipping the Table, a podcast from PHI's Roots of Change, PHI's Michael Dimock hosts dynamic and enlightening conversations with people who are creating new ways to feed the world. In the latest episode, Michael speaks with Wade Crowfoot, head of California's Natural Resources Agency, which has been implementing a groundbreaking set of policies designed to end the 60-year-old conflict among agricultural and environmental interests in order to achieve an impressive set of ecological and rural economic goals. Listen →
Deepening the Understanding of Environmental Impact on Pediatric Cancers: Since 1975, there has been a 41% increase in the number of childhood cancer cases in the United States. The Childhood Cancer and the Environment Project (CCEP), an initiative of PHI’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) Network, aims to deepen the understanding of pediatric health care providers, community health workers and the public about the links between environmental factors and childhood cancers. PEHSU has trained than 400 community health workers since the program launched. Read the impact story →
We're Hiring
PHI is dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. Join us:
- Health Educator I: San Fransico Bay Area, CA (Remote). The Health Educator I will work for the SAMHSA.CSAT funded project, Flourish2 Project, providing Motivational Enhancement Intervention sessions to reduce substance abuse and HIV risk behaviors, and refer participants to appropriate community-based organizations and health care services.
- Quality Control Specialist II: Sacramento, CA. This role will perform a variety of duties in support of the Cancer Registry of Greater California. This position will work collaboratively to assist with audits, data reviews, SEER Edits, de-duplications and other duties as required in preparation for data submissions to state and federal funding agencies and standard-setting agencies.
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This is an incredibly informative edition of PHI News. The evidence showing that Substance Use Navigators can double the likelihood of treatment initiation — and significantly reduce hospital readmissions — highlights exactly the kind of practical, patient-centered innovation that saves lives, especially in rural and underserved settings. I also appreciate the breadth of PHI’s work reflected here: addressing addiction, advancing telehealth policy, supporting youth mental health, strengthening environmental health research, and building community resilience. These are exactly the kinds of integrated, systems-level approaches needed to strengthen public health globally. Thank you to the Public Health Institute and all partners for your continued leadership and commitment to evidence-based, equitable solutions. #PublicHealth #HealthSystems #AddictionTreatment #Telehealth #CommunityResilience
I wrote a paper in my MHA studies about influencing health seeking behaviors. Turns out the best outcomes come from solid support… you can give people all the money in the world and supports will always outpace money…
Great to see successful approaches combining medication with peer support. It's a false dichotomy that you can only have social/psychological counseling or medication but not both.