About the partner organizations
C
losing the Addiction Treatment Gap (CATG) is a national program of the
Open Society Institute and is designed to create an awareness of the treatment
gap. The initiative aims to mobilize public support for expanded treatment by
increasing public funding, broadening insurance coverage and achieving greater
program efficiency. www.soros.org/initiatives/treatmentgap
Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap
In New Hampshire
Addiction is a disease.
Let’s treat it that way.
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation builds and manages a collection of
charitable funds, totaling nearly $490 million, created by individuals, families and
corporations. The Foundation is non-partisan, frequently playing the role of convener
and catalyst on a broad spectrum of issues that affect our state. www.nhcf.org
N
New Futures is a nonprofit, non-partisan, advocacy organization working to reduce
under-age alcohol problems and increase access to treatment through leadership, policy
development and grants management. www.new-futures.org
There are inadequate resources in New Hampshire for the treatment of
Addiction.
EndNotes
ew Hampshire’s Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap initiative
(CATG) intends to close the “gap” between those who need
addiction treatment in New Hampshire and those few who receive it.
It’s estimated that nearly 100,000 people in New Hampshire meet the
clinical criteria for needing addiction treatment each year, yet New
Hampshire’s public treatment system can only treat 6,000. This means
that New Hampshire’s treatment system has the capacity to serve less
than one out of every ten residents who need it.
1 The National Quality Forum, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, issued a report
called “National Voluntary Consensus Standards for the Treatment of Substance Use Conditions:
Evidence-Based Treatment Practices” to address the need for performance measures for the treatment
of substance use conditions. The project identified evidence-based practices for patients with
substance use conditions by focusing on the practices for which the evidence is strongest and most
accepted— and that are most likely to have significant impact on improving care.
Why is the gap worth closing?
2 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings, Department of Health and Human
Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Office of Applied
Studies (OAS), http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k7nsduh/2k7Results.cfm#Ch7, See: Highlights
A
3 (National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2006-2007)
4 Johnson, Timothy P. et al, “WAITING FOR TREATMENT: A SURVEY OF STATE-FUNDED TREATMENT
FACILITIES IN ILLINOIS,” Survey Research Laboratory, April 2008. http://www.iadda.org/docs/waiting_for_treatment_2008.pdf
5 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, See: Figure 7.7 Past Year Perceived Need for and
Effort Made to Receive Specialty Treatment
6 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, See: Figure 7.7 Past Year Perceived Need for and
Effort Made to Receive Specialty Treatment
7 McLellan et al., “Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness: Implications for treatment,” JAMA; Oct
4, 2000; 284, 13; ProQuest Medical Library, pg. 1689.
8 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project (HCUP),
Care of Adults With Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders in U.S. Community Hospitals, 2004. http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/factbk10/
9 SAMHSA Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report – 2006. http://dawninfo.samhsa.gov/files/ED2006/DAWN2k6ED.htm
10 Substance Abuse: The Nation’s Number One Health Problem, February, 2001. http://www.rwjf.org/files/publications/other/SubstanceAbuseChartbook.pdf
11 Parthasarathy, S. et al. “Association of Outpatient Alcohol and Drug Treatment with Health Care
Utilization and Cost: Revisiting the Offset Hypothesis,” Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente
Medical Program, 2001.
12 Hazelden Foundation: “National Study of Public Attitudes Toward Addiction” – February 2009. http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/pr090209healthinsurance.page
ddiction is a physical and biochemical brain disorder with
behavioral components. It’s a chronic disorder, like diabetes,
hypertension, obesity or heart disease and needs to be treated as such.
When addiction is treated like other chronic disorders – with quality
treatment and recovery support – the outcomes are comparable or even
better. Treatment works and people recover.
Treatment costs money, but it’s a good investment compared to the direct
and indirect costs of untreated alcohol and drug use disorders. Chances
are you know someone – a friend or a family member – who has been
affected by addiction. Treatment improves the health of individuals and
families. Treatment works.
What are the project’s goals?
F
unded by the Open Society Institute and the New Hampshire
Charitable Foundation, New Hampshire’s CATG project is focused on
increasing treatment resources through:
• Better insurance coverage and public financing.
• Increased advocacy and communication regarding the importance
of treating addiction disorders like other chronic health disorders,
and the tremendous cost incurred by not closing the treatment gap.
• Addiction treatment system improvements through demonstration
projects in the Nashua and Keene areas.
There are people in
New Hampshire
seeking treatment
right now who can’t
get it because the
system is overloaded,
their insurance
doesn’t cover it, or
they can’t afford it.
That needs to change.
defining the addiction-treatment gap.
Addiction can be treated successfully.
lcohol and other drug addiction affects people of all ages and all walks
of life. Right now, more than 23 million Americans suffer from alcohol
and drug addiction and need treatment1.2
A
he medical community has determined that, just as is the case with
many other chronic diseases, genetics and environment both play roles
in addiction. And just like other diseases, addiction is highly treatable.
Although New Hampshire is ranked as one of the healthiest states in the
nation, research has found that teens in our state use marijuana at higher
rates than teens across the country, adults in New Hampshire rank third in
the country for amount of alcohol used monthly, and prescription abuse by
our elderly residents is quickly rising3.
Chronic diseases require treatment throughout a person’s life. Whether the
disease is diabetes, asthma, addiction or hypertension, a patient’s success in
treatment depends on adherence to a prescribed ongoing treatment program,
medication schedule and/or behavioral changes.7
While many people are in denial about their need for treatment, others
acknowledge their problem and still, for a variety of reasons, cannot get the
treatment they need – and deserve.
• Many would-be clients are put on waiting lists and must wait days,
weeks or even months for treatment.4
• Among those who say they need treatment but cannot get it, 35.9
percent fail to get it because they do not have adequate health
coverage.5
• The stigma associated with addiction continues to keep people away
from treatment.6 Despite evidence that addiction is a chronic brain
disease, many people wrongly attribute it to a moral failure.
• 8.9 percent of those who need treatment are concerned it might cause
neighbors or others in the community to have a negative opinion of
them and 7 percent are worried that treatment might have a negative
effect on their job.
T
The gap between the 100,000 New Hampshire residents who need addiction
treatment and the 6,000 who get it each year is taking a toll on our health
care system. Broadening insurance coverage for addition treatment,
increasing public funding for treatment, and achieving greater program
efficiency and quality, will significantly improve our health care outcomes.
Treating addiction will aid our health care system by alleviating the
following problems:
• One out of every 14 hospital stays – an estimated 2.3 million stays a
year – is related to untreated substance use disorders.8
• More than 1.7 million emergency department visits a year are
associated with drug use.9
• Health care costs for employees with untreated alcohol addiction
problems cost nearly twice as much as those of other employees.10
National research has shown the following outcomes after patients who
suffer from alcohol or other drug addiction receive treatment11:
• Inpatient hospitalization costs decline 39 percent.
• Emergency room costs decline 35 percent
• Total health care costs decline by 26 percent.
The vast majority of Americans (71 percent) agree that health insurance
should cover the cost of addiction treatment and 77 percent agree that
addiction treatment should be part of health care reform.12
For more information on New Hampshire’s Closing the Addiction
Treatment Gap Initiative contact:
New Futures - 603-658-2770 or [email protected]