Center for Organization and Management in Addiction Treatment to be Co-Directed by TRI and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Start-up funding from RWJ Foundation to bring concentrated focus on problems of personnel, funding and stigma in the “business” of addictions treatment

July 2005

TRI Executive Director A. Thomas McLellan has announced creation of the Center for Organization and Management in Addiction Treatment (COMAT), to be co-directed by McLellan and John Kimberly, Ph.D. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

COMAT will bring together addiction researchers from TRI with industry and management specialists from Wharton into a first-of-its-kind Center where the problems plaguing substance abuse treatment systems will be analyzed and best practices identified and disseminated throughout the field. Lessons learned in other problem-plagued industries will be analyzed for possible application to the addictions field.

“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 – 60% in the workforce within addiction treatment programs, 30 – 40% re-organizations (through purchase or administrative take-over) among programs; 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, these problems have been studied and researched systematically in other industries by business schools such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Faculty at the Wharton School have helped many other industries address 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 next two years will be spent developing the Center’s infrastructure, piloting research data and developing collaborations.

A key first project will be a conference October 12-14, 2005 hosted by Drs. Kimberly and McLellan designed to derive “best practices” in organization and management from the lessons learned by such other industries as the 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 – will be topics addressed at the conference.

For More Information About COMAT Contact Bonnie Catone at BCatone@TResearch.org