title: Substance abuse treatment programs' data management capacity: an exploratory study.
abstract: Despite treatment improvement and performance management imperatives, little research describes the data management capacity of substance abuse treatment programs, and useful metrics are not available to gauge capacity. This exploratory study evaluates clinical and administrative data management at eight substance abuse treatment programs in four US states to identify factors for developing an appropriate metric. Findings indicate that programs tend to manage data inefficiently and have few protocols guiding information management. Barriers to better data management included lack of integrated information technology (IT) systems; limited funding, time, and staff for developing and implementing IT-related changes; and divergent staff skills in and attitudes toward IT. This snapshot of substance abuse treatment programs' data management capabilities suggests a need for a metric to examine data management capability in these settings. Infusion of expertise, training, and funding are needed to improve substance abuse treatment programs' IT-related systems and data management processes.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA. jpw2129@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wisdom
authors.forename: James H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Meg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wise
authors.forename: Deirdre
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mackey
authors.forename: Carla A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003201:Computers; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D019451:Information Management; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy; D014481:United States