Making "Stone Soup": Improvements in Clinic Access and Retention in Addiction Treatment

Publication Date:

Publisher: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

Author(s): V.A. Capoccia; F. Cotter; D.H. Gustafson; J.H. Ford; E.F. Cassidy; L. Madden; B.H. Owens; S.O. Farnum; D. McCarty; T. Molfenter

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) is a nationwide program that assists 40 member agencies with the initiation and maintenance of process improvement strategies in treatment of addiction. This article described the success of one of the addiction treatment agencies, Acadia Hospital, that participated in (NIATx).



Key Findings:



* A clinical supervisor and nurse manager at Acadia conducted a “walk-through” exercise to ascertain aspects of the intake process that needed to be changed. Areas of concern included requiring clients to wait several days for the start of treatment and keeping clients away from family members for long periods of time.
* Three weeks after the walk-through, the process improvement team at Acadia decided to focus on decreasing the amount of time to refer clients to intensive outpatient services. Strategies such as eliminating appointments and increasing staff for evaluations were implemented to help meet the stated goal.
* Acadia's process improvements led to a 68 percent reduction in time from initial contact to treatment. Additional benefits to the agency included adding a counselor and increasing billable hours.
* Positive change was reported by all of the agencies participating in NIATx; Acadia's experience provided a useful illustration of the benefits of implementing process improvement strategies.