Improving Addiction Treatment

By monitoring the severity of underlying co-occurring disorders, progress monitoring has proven to help patients in addiction treatment get better faster.  But deeply-uncomfortable patients in the throes of acute withdrawal may find it difficult to answer detailed questions.

John Oliver aired a devastating expose of the addiction treatment industry Sunday night on his show Last Week Tonight.  How should the industry respond? 

The behavioral health care industry has been far behind other areas of health care in using patient-reported data to improve treatment results.  But 2018 is the year this is going to change!

Measurement-based care is the practice of gathering patient-reported data via symptom rating scales and using them to inform treatment. Advocated by leaders in behavioral health care for 20 years, SAMHSA recognizes MBC as evidence-based practice.

In the last 10 years, the treatment lung cancer patients receive has improved drastically.  Can we use data to promote similar improvements in addiction treatment?

One of the evidence-based practices gaining strong support in addiction treatment is to provide counselors with information about how their clients are feeling that they can use to inform clinical care.