California will allocate $8 million in funding to 31 hospitals to provide medication-assisted treatment to patients battling opioid use disorder in rural areas, reports Capital Public Radio.
As part of the federally funded program, the hospitals will train physicians to administer medication-assisted treatment to patients in the emergency room.
Many of the hospitals are based in rural communities where patients may have difficulty accessing addiction care or rehabilitation services.
"Having a local program in rural communities is really a game changer," Arianna Sampson, a physician assistant at Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, told Capital Public Radio.
Marshall Medical Center plans to use its funding to hire an ER navigator to help patients treated for opioid use disorder find long-term rehab.