Linkage to medical services in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study.
Med Care
; 39(3): 284-95, 2001 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-11242322
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
An episode of substance abuse treatment is an opportunity to link substance-abusing patients to medical care at a time when management of medical problems might stabilize recovery and long-term health. However, little is known about the ability of organizational linkage mechanisms to facilitate the delivery of medical care to this population.OBJECTIVES:
The goal of this study was to examine whether organizational linkage mechanisms facilitate medical service utilization in drug abuse treatment programs. RESEARCHDESIGN:
This was a prospective secondary analysis of the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study, a national longitudinal study of drug abuse treatment programs and their patients from 1991 to 1993. Hierarchical linear models evaluated the effect of on-site delivery, formal and informal referral, case management emphasis, and transportation on the log-transformed number of medical visits at the 1-month in-treatment patient interview.MEASURES:
Program directors' surveys provided organizational information, including the linkage mechanism used to deliver medical care. Patients reported the number of medical visits during the first month of drug abuse treatment.RESULTS:
Exclusive on-site delivery increased medical utilization during the first month of drug abuse treatment (beta estimate, 0.22; standard error [SE], 0.06; P <0.001). Transportation services also increased 1-month medical utilization (beta estimate, 0.13; SE, 0.03; P <0.001).CONCLUSIONS:
Exclusive on-site delivery of medical services increased drug abuse treatment patients' utilization of medical services in the first month of treatment. Transportation assistance warrants strong policy consideration as a facilitator of medical service delivery. Future research should clarify whether program-level linkage to medical services improves the patient-level outcomes of drug abuse treatment.
Buscar no Google
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Encaminhamento e Consulta
/
Centros de Tratamento de Abuso de Substâncias
/
Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias
/
Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde
/
Relações Interinstitucionais
Tipo de estudo:
Evaluation_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2001
Tipo de documento:
Article