2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

321067
Role of Perceived Need and Health Insurance in Substance Use Treatment: Implications for ACA


Monday, November 2, 2015 : 10:50 a.m. - 11:10 a.m.

Mir Ali, PhD, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Judith Teich, MSW, Center for Behavioral Health Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Ryan Mutter, PhD, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Research Objective: It is estimated that a large proportion of individuals who will gain access to health insurance through the ACA will have some kind of behavioral health disorder, in particular substance use disorder (SUD). However, little is known about how the structural changes in the substance abuse treatment delivery system resulting from ACA will impact treatment seeking behavior among individuals with a substance use disorder.

Study Design: Data from the 2008-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is analyzed using multinomial logistic regression models.

Population Studied: The analytic sample includes 18,600 adults from the NSDUH survey who has been diagnosed with SUD but has no diagnosable mental health condition.

Principal Findings: The analysis finds that over 80 percent of the individuals with SUD received no treatment and 97 percent do not perceive a need for treatment. When they do receive treatment, they are more likely to receive mental health treatment even when they do not have any diagnosable mental illness. Using multinomial logistic regression, the study finds that having Medicaid or private insurance are associated with higher likelihood of receiving SUD treatment, but only when individuals perceives a need for it.

Conclusions: These results indicate that increased services utilization is associated with perceiving a need for substance abuse treatment, implying that outreach initiatives to raise awareness about SUD and the effective role of substance use treatment are needed to enhance the impact of the structural changes to the substance abuse treatment system resulting from the ACA.

Learning Areas:

Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the procedure for assessing the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Substance Abuse Treatment.

Keyword(s): Affordable Care Act, Health Care Reform

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the lead author on over 30 peer reviewed publications in the area of behavioral health, particularly in adolescent mental health and substance abuse issues, childhood obesity and the role of social networks in influencing health behaviors. Among my scientific interest has been the utilization of novel econometric methods in understanding and evaluating the implications of behavioral health related policies.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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