City Invests Opioid Settlement in Treatment Partnership With UCSD Health

San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert announced a partnership between the city and UC San Diego Health in an effort to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic Friday.

The city will direct $350,000 of its allocated opioid manufacturer settlement to UCSD Health to fund substance use treatment at emergency departments and follow patients as they are discharged and connected to community-based recovery services. The city received $1.35 million in settlement funds in 2023.

“With opioid overdoses continuing to devastate families in San Diego, and now seeing stories of state and local governments wasting opioid litigation settlement dollars, I felt a deep commitment to get this right,” von Wilpert said. “This partnership with UCSD Health is exactly how this money should be invested, to help those in the throes of addiction get to recovery and stop the revolving door at emergency rooms.”

Fentanyl is the number one killer of people 18 to 45 in San Diego County. In 2022, 804 people in San Diego County were recorded as having a fentanyl-related death; the youngest victim was 13 years old.

Funding comes from more than $1.5 billion distributed across the country in 2023, part of a larger settlement from more than a dozen companies that manufactured, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers and were sued for their role in fueling the crisis.

The companies are expected to pay more than $50 billion to state and local governments over nearly two decades, NPR reported.

“This partnership is a crucial step towards addressing the opioid crisis head on,” said Patty Maysent, CEO of UCSD Health. “By integrating comprehensive care management and peer support within our emergency department, we can significantly improve outcomes for patients struggling with substance use disorder and provide them with the resources they need to recover and thrive.”

Partnership funding will create a transition support team intended to work with the existing care management team at UCSD Health to identify substance use disorder patients in the ER. The team will “connect patients to addiction resources, educate ED staff on substance-use disorders and community resources, and serve as an extension of the patient’s care team,” a statement from the hospital read.

The transition support team will spend time in the three Emergency Departments at UCSD Health — Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla, Hillcrest Medical Center and East Campus Medical Center.

“We are honored to help pilot and model out this new transition support team with the city of San Diego’s support,” said Dr. Steve Koh, director of the community psychiatry program and chief of clinical psychiatry at UCSD Health. “The new program will play an integral role in meeting the unique and often complex needs of patients with substance use disorder and mental health conditions.

“We believe that this work can be a template for others to follow and provide much needed services to San Diegans. We look forward to starting this project and working together with the city to sustain it for the future.”

According to von Wilpert, the partnership with UCSD Health represents one of two investments the city intends to pursue with this year’s Opioid Settlement Funds. This partnership is focused on treatment and recovery, the other investment will be focused on prevention and education and announced at a later date.