title: Improving substance abuse data systems to measure 'waiting time to treatment': lessons learned from a quality improvement initiative.
abstract: Robust data measurement systems assess health care performance and monitor population-level treatment trends. A key challenge in the assessment of substance abuse treatment is the development of systems to accurately monitor service delivery indicators. Wait time to treatment, as defined by the days between first request for service and first treatment, is an important measure of organizational process and delivery of care. The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment emphasizes wait time as a primary outcome in their study of 201 addiction treatment agencies in the USA. This article describes the changes made in five state data systems to monitor wait times and outlines lessons learned that could be applied to other health data tracking systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. hoffmaki@ohsu.edu
authors.forename: Kim A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quanbeck
authors.forename: James H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Fritz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wrede
authors.forename: Dagan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lambert-Wacey
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chvojka
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hanchett
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCarty
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D058996:Quality Improvement; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D014850:Waiting Lists