Practice Title: RecoverLA, A Los Angeles County Guide to Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Treatment Resources

Department: Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Size: Large (Population of 500,000+ people)
State: California

Summary of Practice: 

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) protects health, prevents disease, and promotes health and well-being for over 10 million residents of Los Angeles County (LAC). LAC is the most heavily populated county in the nation, accounting for nearly 27 percent of California’s population, and with a racially and ethnically diverse population. It is also one of the nation’s largest counties, encompassing over 4,000 square miles that range from dense urban areas to rural areas in the deserts and mountains. There are over 40 public health programs within LAC-DPH that plan, develop, and implement public health services.  

LAC-DPH's Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Division (DPH-SAPC) leads and facilitates the delivery of a full spectrum of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support services proven to reduce the impact of substance use, abuse, and addiction in LAC. DPH-SAPC works to increase substance use treatment service access and availability and eradicate stigma and barriers that contribute to use and misuse of substances among youth and young adults residing in cities and communities in LAC.  

According to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Wonder Tool, there were 2,133 deaths for all drug overdoses in LAC in 2020. LAC-DPH's July 2021 analysis of local health data reported that there was a 52% increase in accidental drug overdose deaths during the 10 months of the pandemic (March to December 2020) compared to the same period in 2019. While an estimated 8.8% of the LAC population, or over 697,000 individuals, have a substance use disorder or SUD, most people who have an SUD do not receive SUD treatment. According to SAMHSA’s 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 94% of people aged 12 or older who had a SUD in the past year did not receive treatment. Reasons for not receiving SUD treatment include not having health care coverage/high cost of treatment, not finding a program that offered the type of treatment they wanted and concern about the negative perception of seeking and receiving treatment. These common reasons support the need for resources that reduce these barriers to treatment. 

DPH-SAPC is addressing challenges related to local SUD resource and service awareness and referral coordination through the implementation of RecoverLA, a user-focused, community-responsive, mobile-friendly SUD and overdose (OD) prevention resource and referral support guide. As a large county with a complex public health service delivery structure, residents, community agencies, and public entities are often unaware of existing SUD resources, resulting in barriers to lifesaving prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services. Through RecoverLA, DPH-SAPC increased coordination and referrals to SUD prevention and treatment services within high opioid-related morbidity areas; increased linkages to medications for addiction treatment (MAT); and worked to decrease SUD and opioid associated ED visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in LAC. While RecoverLA’s online platform is publicly available, RecoverLA was designed for agencies that serve individuals at high-risk for opioid OD and SUD.  

The goals of RecoverLA are to connect the community with SUD information and resources in LAC, dispel myths and misunderstandings about SUD, and seek SUD treatment. The objective of RecoverLA is to facilitate and increase awareness and referral coordination to overdose prevention and SUD services and resources in LAC.  

The development and launch of RecoverLA included a series of activities in collaboration California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions (CIBHS), Kluge Strategic, Inc. (Kluge), and Fraser Media. In early 2020, DPH-SAPC staff attended meetings in high-priority areas throughout LAC to inform community stakeholders about the RecoverLA development process. Participants included community-based organizations, health centers, and clinics, and other community partners dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of LAC residents. Utilizing the data collected from the engagement sessions, Kluge designed and developed the resource guide and mobile application. Upon the completion and after the launch of RecoverLA, DPH-SAPC hosted community launch and focused trainings events for key stakeholders in priority geographic areas.  

With the expertise of DPH-SAPC’s Health Outcomes and Data Analytics (HODA) team, HODA conducted data monitoring, quality assurance, and evaluation activities. RecoverLA is provided in 13 different languages broadening the access to communities and populations that face barriers to accessing SUD care. 

The efforts from the development and launch of RecoverLA supported the increase in awareness of SUD topics, such as SUD prevention and treatment, and referral and linkage support services among staff in community organizations based on pre- and post-survey questionnaires. During the period of November 2019 and July 2021, DPH SAPCs 24/7 Substance Abuse Service Helpline (SASH) and Client Engagement and Navigation Services (CENS) used for assessment and referral to treatment saw an increase from 38 to 44 percent of clients who were connected to SUD treatment from community organization referrals. 

As a public health practice, RecoverLA is successful at providing a user-friendly tool to establish a linkage to SUD prevention and treatment services in a mobile-friendly format. It also provides users greater flexibility in accessing and leveraging SUD-related resources in various settings. As SUDs are complex, chronic health conditions, it is critical that patients have all available treatment options at their disposal to address those complex conditions. Readily available information and resources encourages and empowers users to learn more information about SUDs and provides direct access towards resources and getting treatment. By leveraging DPH-SAPC’s vast provider and partner network and additional community engagement activities, DPH-SAPC promotes and evolves the resource tool to gain further insight to the adoptability and use of RecoverLA. 

Additional information on SAPC and RecoverLA can be found here: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/sapc/; and https://www.recoverla.org/ (site works best on a mobile device).