Integrating Substance Abuse Treatment and Medical Care - TRI Forum

Be sure to grab the "lessons learned" document from a forum focused on the need to integrate substance abuse treatment and general medical care. 
Held in April 2010 by the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). the forum brought together leaders and innovators in this area to talk about financing, coordination, barriers, and opportunities. 
According to the authors of the resulting issue brief, here's why integration matters:

Often there is little, if any, ongoing communication about risks or progress between specialty substance use treatment and general health care providers who treat the same patients. Routine screening for substance use also is atypical in traditional health care settings, despite its established efficacy for identifying alcohol misuse. And, even when risky or dependent substance use is identified by a patient or the practitioner, the condition is too often ignored or patients are referred outside primary care for treatment and follow-up with little coordination with the rest of
their health care providers.

And here are the key themes that emerged from the forum:
Theme I: It is critically important that there be greater integration of substance use condition screening and treatment or intervention in general health care.
Theme II: Many different models of integration and enhanced coordination of physical health and substance abuse treatment services can be successfully implemented with a wide variety of patient populations.
Theme III: Retooling and creative use of the existing workforce and creation of new roles facilitate the integration of substance use conditions within medical care and other health care settings.
Theme IV: It is possible for these programs to be successfully financed, but barriers also exist that can threaten the initiation and/or sustainability of integrated programs.
>>Download "Integrating Appropriate Services for Substance Use Conditions in Health Care Settings."
 
Photo: kevindooley.