ARMC Recognized as 2025 Leading Hospital for Substance Use Disorder Care

California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) Secretary Kim Johnson, along with Cal Hospital Compare, recognized hospitals across California for their high performance caring for patients with substance use disorder (SUD). Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) was honored for its “Superior Performance” in the 2025 Honor Roll Program.

• 91 hospitals met performance standards in SUD care
• 33 hospitals have achieved the highest levels of performance for 2 consecutive years
• 32 hospitals have significantly improved the level of SUD care provided from last year

“Improving access to SUD care and treatment takes a community,” said CalHHS Secretary Ms. Johnson. “We are delighted that Cal Hospital Compare has expanded its Opioid Care Honor Roll program to reflect the growing trend across California hospitals to provide navigation and harm reduction services to all individuals with a SUD. Through its annual program, now called Healthcare Organizations Leading SUD Care, Cal Hospital Compare helps us to celebrate hospitals doing excellent work and show where improvement is needed.”

“Cal Hospital Compare is proud to contribute to the statewide effort to reduce SUD related deaths by providing a mechanism to evaluate hospital performance, while offering a roadmap for change,” said Dr. Bruce Spurlock, Executive Director of Cal Hospital Compare. “We’ve heard from patients that they want low barrier access to stigma free, culturally sensitive care so we invite all California hospitals to use the Healthcare Organizations Leading SUD Care Hospital Self-Assessment as a tool to evaluate their own performance and benchmark against other hospitals.”

For the past 6 years, California has recognized hospitals for their progress identifying and treating patients with opioid use disorder and now, SUD. During this transition year, programmatic activities paid special attention to the management of OUD and alcohol use disorder (AUD). The data supports this, as nationwide, roughly one-half of individuals with a SUD misuse alcohol.

In recognition of their work in 2025, 133 hospitals voluntarily reported their progress on their SUD care activities from safe and effective opioid use, identifying and treating patients with SUD, harm reduction strategies, steps to reduce stigma, and ways they involve patient and families in the decision-making process. Even with the changes in the healthcare landscape and funding, a high number of hospitals continue to participate in this honor roll program which is a signal that hospitals see continued value in addressing substance misuse in their communities.

Of these hospitals, Cal Hospital Compare congratulates 91 hospitals for making this year’s honor roll in one or more of the following performance categories: superior performance, excellent progress, sustained improvement over a two-year period, and most improved. However, participation alone is a signal to California’s healthcare community that all 133 hospitals are actively accelerating and strengthening their ability to provide SUD care and treatment.

Participating hospitals have consistently improved their SUD practices across all domains of care outlined in the Healthcare Organizations Leading SUD Care Hospital Self-Assessment, most notably in the areas of providing harm reduction services and supplies, as well as addressing stigma with providers and staff. “Progress in these areas helps hospitals to meet patients where they are at,” said Dr. Spurlock. Around 20% of participating hospitals have advanced processes in place to support substance exposed birthing persons and newborns and use data to understand and support their more vulnerable SUD patients.

“In 2026, Cal Hospital Compare will continue to support the growth of SUD services across California hospitals by updating the Healthcare Organizations Leading SUD Care Self-Assessment with emerging best practices for other commonly misused substances and disseminating these best practices among participating hospitals. “Identification, treatment, and harm reduction remain effective strategies to address addiction and mental health issues in our communities, and saving lives,” said Dr. Spurlock.

For more details on Healthcare Organizations Leading SUD Care Honor Roll program and to access the Fact Sheet, please visit the Cal Hospital Compare website.

About Cal Hospital Compare

For more than a decade, Cal Hospital Compare has been providing Californians with objective hospital performance ratings. Cal Hospital Compare is a nonprofit organization governed by a multistakeholder board that includes representatives of hospitals, purchasers, consumer groups, and health plans. It uses an open and collaborative process to aggregate public data and establish relevant measures and scoring.

About Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center is a 456-bed university-affiliated teaching hospital licensed by the State of California Department of Public Health, operated by San Bernardino County, and governed by the Board of Supervisors. It is ARMC’s mission, in an environment of learning and innovation, to serve our diverse community with high-quality, compassionate care. The hospital, located on a 70-acre campus in Colton, California, operates the Edward G. Hirschman Regional Burn Center, the Dev A. GnanaDev Trauma Center, a comprehensive stroke center, an inpatient behavioral health center, neonatal intensive care unit, women’s health and maternal-fetal medicine, orthopedics, five primary care centers, and more. ARMC also provides more than 40 outpatient specialty care services. ARMC is helping to achieve the countywide vision by addressing the community’s wellness and educational needs. ARMC is the primary teaching hospital for the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM). The University welcomed its first class of students in 2018. For more information on CUSM, visit https://cusm.edu/. For more information about ARMC, visit https://www.arrowheadregional.org/. You can also watch this video to learn more about ARMC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbqv6Ef7qfg