Abstract
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) aims to provide affordable health insurance and expanded health care coverage for some 32 million Americans. The PPACA makes provisions for using technology, evidence-based treatments, and integrated, patient-centered care to modernize the delivery of health care services. These changes are designed to ensure effectiveness, efficiency, and cost-savings within the health care system.To gauge the addiction treatment field’s readiness for health reform, the authors developed a Health Reform Readiness Index (HRRI) survey for addiction treatment agencies. Addiction treatment administrators and providers from around the United States completed the survey located on the http://www.niatx.net website. Respondents self-assessed their agencies based on 13 conditions pertinent to health reform readiness, and received a confidential score and instant feedback.On a scale of “Needs to Begin,” “Early Stages,” “On the Way,” and “Advanced,” the mean scores for respondents (n = 276) ranked in the Early Stages of health reform preparation for 11 of 13 conditions. Of greater concern was that organizations with budgets of < $5 million (n = 193) were less likely than those with budgets > $5 million to have information technology (patient records, patient health technology, and administrative information technology), evidence-based treatments, quality management systems, a continuum of care, or a board of directors informed about PPACA.The findings of the HRRI indicate that the addiction field, and in particular smaller organizations, have much to do to prepare for a future environment that has greater expectations for information technology use, a credentialed workforce, accountability for patient care, and an integrated continuum of care.
Highlights
On March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law, heralding imminent and significant reform for health care delivery and health insurance coverage in the United States [1]
The Health Reform Readiness Index (HRRI) survey was developed through the Accelerating Reform Initiative (ARI) conducted by Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx), a process improvement learning collaborative at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
The final HRRI survey was placed on the NIATx website [19] in October 2010 and was available to addiction treatment administrators and providers from around the United States who were interested in completing the survey
Summary
On March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law, heralding imminent and significant reform for health care delivery and health insurance coverage in the United States [1]. Health reform seeks to reduce health care costs by improving prevention and wellness [10]; integrated care [11]; health information technology implementation [12,13,14]; evidence-based treatment [15,16]; workforce development [17]; and quality management [18] in the health care delivery system. Within this context, we wanted to gauge the addiction treatment field’s readiness for health reform. Their experiences provided the foundation for development of the HRRI survey
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