WHARTON-TRI CENTER ON THE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ADDICTION TREATMENT
Co-Directors: A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., Treatment Research Institute
John Kimberly, Ph.D., Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

• COMAT Papers Featured in JSAT Five papers from the November 2005 conference of the Center on the Organization and Management of Addiction Treatment are featured in a special section of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, October issue. More

Co-founded in July 2005 by A.Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of TRI, and John Kimberly, Ph.D. of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the Center represents a unique alliance of addiction researchers and industry and management specialists interested in analyzing the “business” of substance abuse treatment and applying lessons learned from other problem-plagued industries.

Though founded in Philadelphia as a partnership between addiction researchers at the Treatment Research Institute and organization and management researchers at the Wharton School, in practice COMAT is actually a virtual resource center for the field, providing advice, information dissemination, consultation and evaluation services with the goal of assuring that the findings and “best practices” identified along the way have every opportunity to become standard practices.

“From an organizational perspective, there is reason to believe the addiction treatment system is in rather significant trouble,” McLellan said. He cited investigations by TRI that have documented a 19% reduction in the number of addiction treatment programs during the last two years, turnover rates of 50% to 60% in the workforce within addiction treatment programs, 30% to 40% re-organization among programs (through purchase or administrative take-over), all leading to confusion and demoralization among clinical staff and a general decline in the quality of care available for the public.

While these financing, organization and management issues are serious and pervasive, faculty at the Wharton School have helped many other industries address similar issues such as high personnel turnover rates, lack of standards in information, procedures and quality measures, and stigma.

In bringing together leading experts in research, industry, and management, COMAT’s long-term goal will be to develop, introduce and test practical, evidence-based strategies for better organizing and managing addiction treatment systems. With the start-up funding granted by RWJ, the first two years will be spent developing the Center’s infrastructure, piloting research data and developing collaborations.

A key first project was a conference in November 2005 hosted by Drs. Kimberly and McLellan where discussion began around the problems facing the addictions industry and best practices adopted in such other industries as fast food, waste management and hospice/home nursing. In these industries there are now exemplar organizations that have overcome problems with leadership, innovation, investment, organization and consolidation strategies. How these transformations took place – and whether there are lessons that can be learned by the substance abuse treatment field – were key topics addressed at the conference. Conference Results

The second COMAT conference, “Ensuring Consistency in Service Delivery Within and Across Delivery Sites,” will be held December 1 and 2, 2006 at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.