Objective To review the research on economic and systemic barriers faced by adolescents needing treatment for alcohol and drug problems, particularly those with co-occurring conditions. Method We reviewed the literature on adolescent access to alcohol and drug services, including early intervention, and integrated and specialty mental health treatment for those with co-occurring disorders, examining the role of health care systems, public policy (health reform), treatment financing and reimbursement systems (public and private), implementation of evidence-based practices, confidentiality practices, and treatment costs and cost/benefits. Results Barriers to treatment, particularly integrated treatment, are largely rooted in our organizationally fragmented health care system, which encompasses public and private, carved-out and integrated systems, and different funding mechanisms (Medicaid versus block grants versus private insurance that include “high deductible” plans and other cost controls.) In both systems, carved-out programs de-link services from other mental health and general health care. Barriers are also rooted in disciplinary differences and weak clinical linkages between psychiatry, primary care and substance use, and in confidentiality policies that inhibit communication and coordination, while protecting patient privacy. Conclusion In this era of health care reform, we have the opportunity to increase access for adolescents and develop new models of integrated services for those with co-occurring conditions. We discuss opportunities for improving treatment access and implementation of evidence-based practices, examine implications of health reform and parity legislation for psychiatric and substance use treatment, and comment on key unanswered questions and future research opportunities.

Substance use (SU) problems are common among adolescents, a serious health risk for them and a major public health problem, but are inadequately addressed in most pediatric health care settings. Primary care offers an excellent context for SU assessment and treatment for adolescents and their families, offering better access and a less stigmatized environment for receiving treatment than specialty programs. This paper examines the literature on the integration of substance use treatment with adolescent health care, focusing on 2 areas: Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in Emergency Departments and Primary Care, and School- and College-Based Health Centers.

Purpose To examine the role of family environment and peer networks in abstinence outcomes for adolescents 1 year after intake to alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment. Design Survey of 419 adolescents 13 to 18 years of age at consecutive intakes to AOD treatment programs at four sites of a large health system, with telephone follow-up survey 1 year after intake. Methods Examined association of 1-year abstinence with baseline characteristics. Using logistic regression, we examined characteristics predicting 1-year abstinence and predicting having fewer than four substance-using friends at 1 year. Results We found that family environment scores related to family conflict, limit setting, and positive family experiences, were not related to abstinence outcomes, but peer networks were related. Adolescents with fewer (less than four) AOD-using friends were more likely to be abstinent than those with four or more AOD-using friends (65% vs. 41%, p = .0002). Having fewer than four AOD-using friends at intake predicted abstinence at 1 year (odds ratio [OR] = 2.904, p = .0002) and also predicted having fewer than four AOD-using friends at 1 year (OR = 2.557, p = 0.0007). Conclusions Although family environment is an important factor in the development of AOD problems in adolescents, it did not play a significant role in treatment success. The quality of adolescent peer networks did independently predict positive outcomes. Clinical Relevance For physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and other primary and behavioral care providers who screen and care for adolescents with AOD and other behavioral problems, our finding suggest the importance of focusing on improving the quality of their peer networks.

IMPORTANCE Research has shown that higher activation and engagement with health care is associated with better self-management. To our knowledge, the linkage intervention (LINKAGE) is the first to engage patients receiving addiction treatment with health care using the electronic health record and a patient activation approach. OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of an intervention aiming to link patients receiving addiction treatment with health care. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A nonrandomized clinical trial evaluating the LINKAGE intervention vs usual care by applying an alternating 3-month off-and-on design over 30 months. Participants were recruited from an outpatient addiction treatment clinic in a large health system between April 7, 2011, and October 2, 2013. INTERVENTIONS Six group-based, manual-guided sessions on patient engagement in health care and the use of health information technology resources in the electronic health record, as well as facilitated communication with physicians, vs usual care. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary outcomes, measured at 6 months after enrollment, were patient activation (by interview using the Patient Activation Measure), patient engagement in health care (by interview and electronic health record), and alcohol, drug, and depression outcomes (by interview using the Addiction Severity Index for alcohol and drug outcomes and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) for depression). RESULTS A total of 503 patients were recruited and assigned to the LINKAGE (n = 252) or usual care (n = 251) conditions, with no differences in baseline characteristics between conditions. The mean (SD) age of the patients was 42.5 (11.8) years, 31.0% (n = 156) were female, and 455 (90.5%) completed the 6-month interview. Compared with usual care participants, LINKAGE participants showed an increase in the mean number of log-in days (incidence rate ratio, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.19–1.97; P = .001). Similar results were found across types of patient portal use (communicating by email, viewing laboratory test results and information, and obtaining medical advice). LINKAGE participants were more likely to talk with their physicians about addiction problems (odds ratio, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.52–3.49; P < .001). Although 6-month abstinence rates were high for both conditions (≥70.0% for both) and depression symptoms improved (the proportion with scores≥15 on the 9-item PHQ dropped from 15.1% [38 of 252] to 8.0% [18 of 225] among LINKAGE participants), there were no differences between conditions. Those who received all intervention components had significantly better alcohol and other drug outcomes than those who received fewer intervention components. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Findings support the feasibility and effectiveness of the LINKAGE intervention in helping patients receiving addiction treatment engage in health care and increase communication with their physicians. The intervention did not affect short-term abstinence or depression outcomes. Understanding if the LINKAGE intervention helps ...

Tailoring treatment, enhancing treatment motivation among individuals with lower severity diagnoses, offering medication treatment of addiction, clinician education, care coordination, co-located AOD and primary care departments, and behavioral medicine specialists in primary care may improve rates of initiation and engagement in AOD treatment.

Objective-This study examined the role of workplace mandates to chemical dependency treatment in treatment adherence, alcohol and drug abstinence, severity of employment problems, and severity of psychiatric problems.Methods-The sample included 448 employed members of a private, nonprofit U.S. managed care health plan who entered chemical dependency treatment with a workplace mandate (N=75) or without one (N=373); 405 of these individuals were followed up at one year (N=70 and N=335, respectively), and 362 participated in a five-year follow up (N=60 and N=302, respectively). Propensity scores predicting receipt of a workplace mandate were calculated. Logistic regression and ordinary leastsquares regression were used to predict length of stay in chemical dependency treatment, alcohol and drug abstinence, and psychiatric and employment problem severity at one and five years.Results-Overall, participants with a workplace mandate had one-and five-year outcomes similar to those without such a mandate. Having a workplace mandate also predicted longer treatment stays and improvement in employment problems. When other factors related to outcomes were controlledThe authors report no competing interests. for, having a workplace mandate predicted abstinence at one year, with length of stay as a mediating variable. NIH Public AccessConclusions-Workplace mandates can be an effective mechanism for improving work performance and other outcomes. Study participants who had a workplace mandate were more likely than those who did not have a workplace mandate to be abstinent at follow-up, and they did as well in treatment, both short and long term. Pressure from the workplace likely gets people to treatment earlier and provides incentives for treatment adherence.Treatment mandates are a major predictor of entry into chemical dependency treatment (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). In the public sector, individuals are often pressured to enter treatment by criminal justice or welfare agencies; in private programs the pressure is often from employers (1,3). Most research in this area has examined legal mandates, with treatment retention and rearrest as outcomes. Results are mixed, but outcomes are often similar to those of voluntary clients (5-12).Employee substance use problems are a major policy issue for employers, insurers, and health plans, as they affect large numbers of workers and impose a substantial financial burden on employers. Treatment mandates originate from employee assistance programs, unions, or employers (3,4,13). Few recent studies have examined how workplace mandates affect treatment outcomes, but earlier studies found that employees who were mandated to enter treatment and those who sought treatment voluntarily had comparable outcomes (14,15).Problem severity and motivation are robust factors affecting chemical dependency treatment outcome, possibly overriding effects of a mandate. Substance use and psychiatric disorders commonly co-occur among individuals in treatment (16-18), and these complex patients typically do less ...

This study examines the factors related to referrals of adolescents with substance use disorders to substance abuse or mental health treatment by their medical providers. Administrative and chart review data from the membership of a large private health maintenance organization (HMO) were collected from a probability sample of 400 adolescents, ages 13-18, who were diagnosed with a substance use disorder in 1999. Logistic regression analyses examined referral to substance abuse treatment and referral to mental health treatment in the aggregate and stratified by gender. Documented use of both alcohol and another illicit drug, and legal problems increased likelihood of referral to substance abuse and mental health treatment, whereas diagnoses of alcohol and marijuana use disorders decreased likelihood of referral to substance abuse treatment. Mental health diagnoses played a limited role in both types of referrals, although specific psychosocial problems were associated with increased likelihood of referrals. Treatment history and location of first mention of problem were significant predictors of referral. There were no gender differences in referral rates to either substance abuse or mental health treatment; however predictors of referral differed by gender. These findings extend our knowledge about factors that influence clinicians' treatment referrals of adolescents with substance abuse diagnoses and have implications for influencing clinician referral behavior within health plans.

AIMS Increased access to health care, including addiction treatment, has long been a goal of health reform in the U.S. An unanswered question is whether reform will change the way people get to addiction treatment; when treatment is easily accessible, do individuals self-refer, or do they still enter treatment via ultimatums, and if so, from which sources? To begin examining this, we used a single case study of a U.S. health plan that provides access similar to that called for in health reform. METHOD Using a case study method of data from studies conducted in a large, private non-profit, integrated managed care health plan which includes addiction services, we examined the prevalence and source of ultimatums to enter treatment, and the characteristics of those receiving them. The plan is highly representative of changes to U.S. health care and other countries due to health reform. RESULTS Many individuals entering addiction treatment had received an ultimatum stemming from employment, legal, medical, and family sources. Having more employment problems, an occupation with public safety concerns, being older, male, and ethnicity predicted an employment ultimatum. Higher legal problem severity predicted a legal ultimatum. More men (and younger people) had family ultimatums, and more women (and older people) had medical ultimatums. Being younger, male, married, having higher employment and family problem severity, and being drug or combined drug/alcohol dependent rather than dependent on alcohol-only predicted an ultimatum from one’s family. On the whole, an ultimatum from one source was not related to having one from another source. Those most likely to receive ultimatums from multiple sources were women, those separated/divorced, and those having higher psychiatric and legal problem severity. CONCLUSIONS Even in an insured population with good access to addiction treatment, individuals often receive ultimatums to enter treatment rather than being self-referred. Understanding the treatment entry process, and how it is affected by health care systems, could benefit from international and other comparative research.