Substance Abuse Treatment
Health Care and Substance Abuse Treatment
by Jonathan Huttner
Recent research has brought attention to health care for substance abuse treatment with reports such as the Institute of Medicine's "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century." This report introduces a plan to improve overall health care; however these methods may be applied to the fields of mental health and substance abuse treatment as well.
There are a variety of factors to consider with substance abuse treatment that don't apply to general health care such as:
- The need for a drug rehab facility
- Separate care delivery systems
- Differently structured marketplace
Because of these differentiating factors, some are uncertain whether or not the methods in the Quality Chasm report mentioned above would be effective in substance abuse treatment or mental health care.
The Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions: Quality Chasm Series examines the differences between general health care and substance abuse treatment. This report determines that the Quality Chasm methods are applicable outside of general health care because they address issues of health care for conditions due to mental health and substance abuse. Treatment for these conditions plays an essential role in improving overall health and health care.
Jonathan Huttner is one of the founders of Lakeview Health Systems, which has treated over 7,000 people from throughout the United States. Jonathan has been involved in the field of addiction and eating disorder treatment for the last 25 years.
