Access To Recovery Research Articles

Validating the Addiction Severity Index (ASI-6) on Offender Re-Arrest

This study validates the use of the ASI-6 (Addiction Severity Index, version 6) as a practical risk assessment tool to predict short and long term offender re-arrest. The ASI-6 conservatively predicted between 43% and 58% of offender re-arrest within one, three- and five-year intervals (not taking into account demographic variables). This study utilizes offender intake data from 434 offenders within an Access to Recovery (ATR) substance abuse program with municipal, county and state correctional data on re-arrest. Offenders who scored highly within each of the seven domains of the ASI-6 metrics were also found to be more likely to be re-arrested over one, three and/or five years post release from custody.

Access to Recovery and Recidivism Among Former Prison Inmates.

Access to Recovery (ATR) is a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded initiative that offers a mix of clinical and supportive services for substance abuse. ATR clients choose which services will help to overcome barriers in their road to recovery, and a recovery consultant provides vouchers and helps link the client to these community resources. One of ATR's goals was to provide services to those involved in the criminal justice system in the hopes that addressing substance abuse issues could reduce subsequent criminal behaviors. This study examines this goal by looking at recidivism among a sample of clients in one state's ATR program who returned to the community after incarceration. Results suggest that there were few differential effects of service selections on subsequent recidivism. However, there are significant differences in recidivism rates among the agencies that provided ATR services. Agencies with more resources and a focus on prisoner reentry had better recidivism outcomes than those that focus only on substance abuse services.

Impact of Access to Recovery services on alcohol/drug treatment outcomes

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of providing recovery support services to clients receiving publicly funded chemical dependency (CD) treatment through the Access to Recovery (ATR) Program in Washington State. Services included case management, transportation, housing, and medical. A comparison group composed of clients who received CD treatment only was constructed using a multistep procedure based on propensity scores and exact matching on specific variables. Outcomes were obtained from administrative data sources. Results indicated that ATR services were associated with a number of positive outcomes including increased length of stay in treatment, increased likelihood of completing treatment, and increased likelihood of becoming employed. The beneficial effects of ATR services on treatment retention were most pronounced when they were provided between 31 and 180 days after treatment began. The results reported here offer evidence for the value of ATR services.

Evaluation of the Washington State Access to Recovery project: Effects on Medicaid costs for working age disabled clients

In 2004, the federal government made a major commitment to support expanded substance abuse (SA) recovery services by initiating the Access to Recovery (ATR) program. The initial ATR I program awarded grants to 14 states, including Washington State. We evaluated Washington's ATR I program to determine its effect on Medicaid costs for working age disabled clients. We compared per member per month (PMPM) Medicaid costs during 1 year follow-up for clients who received ATR services ( N = 1,347) with costs for a matched comparison group of 1,243 clients and used multiple regression techniques to estimate changes in Medicaid costs associated with ATR. ATR was found to be associated with reductions in PMPM Medicaid costs of $66 ( p = .11) to $136 ( p = .05) depending upon months of Medicaid eligibility. Recovery services aimed at facilitating engagement in SA treatment and aftercare appear to foster modest savings in Medicaid costs for working age disabled clients.