Getting the Most from Substance Abuse Treatment Dollars: Performance Measurement Can Help State Legislators Improve Accountability
August 2005
TRI has teamed with the State Associations of Addictions Services and the National Conference of State Legislatures in a year-long project educating State legislators as to what they can and should expect from the treatment dollars they appropriate.
TRI Executive Director A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D. headlined the project’s second briefing during NCSL’s August 2005 Annual Meeting in Seattle Washington. His presentation, available for download at TRI's website, described what is and is not a realistic expectation of treatment outcomes. Another general theme: how information management can produce actionable data to improve outcomes and target limited funding to where it will do the most good.
Also, McLellan emphasized that substance abuse, like other medical conditions, is chronic and relapsing and should be managed beyond the initial treatment episode as it is for such chronically relapsing conditions as hypertension and diabetes. He also advanced "Continuous Recovery Monitoring," a new evaluation paradigm under which patient progress is measured continually throughout treatment, and progress based not just on reductions in substance use, but on other behavioral indicators such as reduced criminality and less reliance on health care and other social services.
“If research has demonstrated that good treatment can work – that it can reduce the social and public health consequences of substance abuse - legislators have a right to ask whether treatment is “working” in their states,” McLellan said.. “Just as important, if legislators ask the question, is there a performance measurement system in place that helps state substance abuse managers answer quickly and reliably?”
The August 19 presentation was the second in this year-long project made possible through a SAMHSA-funded collaboration involving the State Associations of Addictions Services, NCSL, and the Treatment Research Institute. Also scheduled are two site visits to states to talk with state legislators about their local issues and interests in performance measurement.
For information about upcoming events or to access additional resources on the subject of performance measurement, visit the project website at www.ncsl.org/programs/health/satmeasure.htm.
All project materials were developed with support from
Partners for Recovery, an initiative of the United States Department of
Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
