Purpose: One goal of evaluating the impact of Treatment on Demand (TOD) in San Francisco is to determine whether there are changes in access to treatment. As a measure of access to treatment we focused on the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Access Reporting (DATAR) system, a program-level reporting that occurred each month. Methods: Data were gathered from the DATAR programs reporting in S.F. County from January 1995 through May 1999. Reporting programs were divided into three groups: (1) the 47 programs reporting, (2) 36 reporting consistently (at least 90% of the time) and (3) 14 reporting consistently that also received TOD support. We measured: (1) Number of patients waiting in a month and (2) the time that patients waited before entering treatment. Data were analyzed to detect possible changes in the access measures associated with the implementation of TOD. Results: With the 14 programs reporting consistently and receiving TOD funds there was a decrease in both number of patients waiting for treatment and mean number of days that patients waited before entering treatment. There was considerable variability in program reports each month, which we are investigating to determine the meaning of the observed decreases. Conclusions: DATAR may be sensitive to changes in local substance abuse treatment policy, but the system also has numerous limitations that need to be explored. We are investigating other methods of determining whether access improves. These preliminary results may contribute to the idea that providing TOD can improve access to treatment for drug dependent individuals.
Learning Objectives: 1. Recognize strengths and weaknesses of treatment waiting lists as a measure of changes in treatment acess. 2. Identify ways to use waiting lists data. 3. Discuss methods to improve the quality of waiting lists reporting sytems
Keywords: Access to Care, Health Care Delivery
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.