Bridge logo
Bridge logo

Closing the Gaps: How Bridge Training is Transforming Frontline Care

March 9, 2026
Since 2018, the Bridge Center has seen over 10,000 total training attendances focused on breaking down barriers in a fragmented healthcare system. By equipping the frontlines with clinical innovations in addiction treatment, reproductive equity, and routine opt-out testing for Syphilis, HIV, and HCV screening, we are ensuring that every hospital visit becomes a seamless pathway to care. Read the full story to see how Bridge Center's trainings and new clinical protocols are transforming frontline care across 30+ states.
A group of people sit on white chairs in a bright room, listening to a speaker at a podium. The projector displays a slide titled “What is Low-Barrier Care?” The atmosphere is engaged and attentive, with string lights adding warmth.

Closing the Gaps: How Bridge Training is Transforming Frontline Care

As soon as Marcus Strong walks into Palomar Medical Center, he begins tracking patients who enter with substance use disorder (SUD) to ensure no one falls through the cracks. As a Navigator, his day is spent helping patients find compassionate care, whether it’s securing their first medication for addiction treatment (MAT) appointment, finding a residential facility with an open bed, or following up to ensure they have accessed the support they needed.

Man standing beside a CA Bridge banner about substance use treatment in California emergency departments. The scene is bright and optimistic.

Marcus’s priority is his patients, but providing sustainable support requires a strong community of practice. He participates in the Bridge Center’s training programs for access to tools that scale his daily commitment across the broader system of care.

“Because of these trainings, I advocate for patient-centered care every day,” Marcus said, reflecting on the capacity-building opportunities he’s engaged in at Bridge. “I want the people I meet face-to-face to know they aren’t inferior. I want them to know I’m right there for them.”

Marcus isn’t the only one. Since 2018, Bridge has seen over 10,000 total training attendances on best practices for supporting addiction treatment, public health screening, and reproductive health reflecting the Bridge model: low-barrier treatment, connection to care and community, and a culture of harm reduction.

The Challenge

Patients in crisis often face a fragmented healthcare system with significant gaps. Even with dedicated staff, barriers from long wait times to a lack of local MAT providers and emergency reproductive specialists make it challenging for patients to access the support they need, when they need it.

To bridge this gap, the Bridge Center produces training to disseminate innovations across rapid MAT access, pregnancy emergencies, and advancing routine opt-out testing for Syphilis, HIV, and HCV. Over the last eight years, Bridge has achieved major training success, including:

Expanding Access to Rapid MAT

  • Over 2,000 clinicians have advanced their practice by staying informed on the latest MAT updates and integrated care protocols.
  • 197 Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been certified to provide reimbursable Medi-Cal SUD services and turn essential peer support into a sustainable, long-term resource for SUD treatment.
  • 1,800 clinicians, nurses, and navigators have completed over 13,000 accredited SUD training modules within the CA Bridge Academy, earning Continuing Education Units and Continuing Medical Education credits on essential topics such as evidence-based pain management, withdrawal, overdose prevention, and stigma reduction.
  • Over 1,000 people from outside of California have joined CA Bridge sessions to adapt the CA Bridge model of equitable care to their communities.

Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health

  • Over 60 Access Bridge fellows have implemented new clinical protocols across 30+ states, adding life-saving medications to hospital formularies and ensuring that early pregnancy loss and contraception are standard emergency care.
  • Over 30 California hospitals participating in the Emergency Department Syphilis/HIV/HCV Screening Program (EDSP) have transitioned to a routine, opt-out testing model and now provide patient education, initiate treatment, and utilize navigators to link patients to follow-up care through ED opt-out syphilis/HIV/HCV testing.

These trainings provide knowledge for systemic change, and, for people on the frontlines, a sense of belonging. For Marcus, the hospital is where he does the work, but the Bridge Center trainings are where he finds the community to master it:

“The motivation comes from being with like-minded individuals who are working toward the same purpose as I am,” he said. “Sometimes you need that boost from others to keep going.”

Continuing the Impact

Bridge’s new webinar series – Bridging the Gap: Interdisciplinary Solutions for Addiction Care – is the Center’s latest opportunity to engage clinicians, navigators, hospital administrators, and anyone in the SUD field in innovating care. The series explores closing treatment gaps, including navigating stigma, insurance shifts, and incarceration. These sessions are high-impact and practical, focusing on the novel information and actionable tools health professionals can incorporate into their day-to-day work.

Join us