Conference of the Wharton-TRI Center on the Organization and
Management of Addiction Treatment

December 1-2, 2006

Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

On December 1 and 2, 2006, John Kimberly, Ph.D. and A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D. hosted “COMAT II,” a conference [almost] exclusively devoted to retail and other private industry examples of improved quality, better “customer” service and employee loyalty, and improved delivery of services. COMAT II participants heard how a number of industry leaders tackled problems through specialization, “brand” identification, customer service, data analysis, benchmarking, and employee incentives. Consistency of services and value to employees and customers were common to most of the success stories.

Presentations on behalf of the addiction field were:

“National Treatment Center Study: Analysis of Retrospective Data” (Paul Roman, Ph.D.; Institute for Behavioral Research, University of Georgia-Athens): retrospective analysis of data from NIDA’s National Treatment Center Study (survey of private sector clinics at 1995-96 and 2002-04) points to organizational, clinical, demographic and other, potentially predictive changes in privately funded addiction treatment centers.

“Consistency? We Gotta Automate this Thing!” (David H. Gustafson, Ph.D., Director; Network for Improvement of Addiction Treatment, University of Wisconsin-Madison): e-Health and other technology-delivered services have improved consistency of care and patient engagement for several medical conditions. Could these computer-based strategies work in addiction?

“Efficiency in Addiction Treatment: A Data Envelopment Analysis in Maryland” (Rafael A. Corredoira, Ph.D.; John R. Kimberly, Ph.D.; Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania): measuring addiction clinic performance can be daunting in a field where resources are limited and number of potential patients sizeable. The authors present preliminary findings from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) of the efficiency of the 373 clinics comprising the Maryland substance abuse treatment system in 2005.

From retail and other private sector experts:

“Managing for Consistency in Franchises” (Anne Marie Knott, Ph.D.; Washington University in St. Louis): a discussion of franchising as a force in the U.S. economy, analyzing a defining feature of franchising - consistent services offered across locations – for application to the addiction field. Using case studies from McDonalds, BancOne and the hospital industry, Knott enumerated the advantages and disadvantages of franchising to corporate managers and franchise holders. Read JSAT Article.

“Creating a Living Brand: Wawa” (Howard B. Stoeckel, Wawa CEO): Wawa set out to brand itself around customers and values in a strategy that saw it grow over four decades to 556 stores in five mid-Atlantic states, with a 2004 Forbes Magazine ranking of number 88 in its list of largest private companies. Lessons in customer satisfaction and “simplifying customers’ lives” may be instructive for addiction treatment.

“Managing External Markets: A View from the Home Care Industry” (Richard Chesney, Healthcare Market Resources): lessons learned in the highly successful home health care and hospice industries include 1) understanding your business by understanding your local market and there are variations among local markets; 2) to know the market you must define it; measure it; segment it; and benchmark your performance; 3) information on industry activity, demographics, and referral sources are essential; and 4) if you can’t be important to everyone, be important to someone so long as the “someone” is meaningful.

“Creating Service Excellence” (Frances Frei, Ph.D., Harvard Business School): in a wide-ranging presentation with illustrations from WalMart, Commerce Bank, Tiffany’s, some “mom-and-pop” outlets, and even car rental agencies, Dr. Frei argues the building blocks of service excellence require definition of the “service offering,” (ie, what are you offering to whom), and only then designing funding mechanisms (how will profits be generated; an employee management system (the employee skill sets, training and other mechanisms to create brand value for employees); and finally, a customer management system to create value for customers.

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