Results of a statewide evaluation of “paperwork burden” in addiction treatment

Abstract

This article chronicles three steps taken by research, clinical and state staff towards assessing, evaluating and streamlining clinical and administrative paperwork at all public outpatient addiction treatment programs in 1 state. The first step was an accounting of all paperwork requirements at each program.Step two included the development of time estimates for the paperwork requirements, synthesis of information across sites, providing written evaluation of the need, utility and redundancy of all forms (paperwork) collected, and suggestions for eliminating unused or unnecessary data collection and streamlining the remaining data collection. Thirdly, the state agency hosted a meeting with the state staff, researchers and staff from all programs and agencies with state-funded contracts and took action. Paperwork reductions over the course of a 6-month outpatient treatment episode were estimated at 4 -6 hours, with most of the time burden being eliminated from the intake process.

Consumer and Carer Perspectives of a Zero Suicide Prevention Program: A Qualitative Study

“…This approach will be critical in facilitating improvements for inpatients, for example by ensuring safety planning is conducted much earlier in the pathway, rather than on the day of discharge. Nevertheless, there exist several practical issues that impede the resolution of staff versus consumer priorities identified in this study, such as under-funding of mental health services in Australia and associated burnout in mental health professionals (e.g., [47]) and the 'burden' of excessive and often redundant paperwork at the expense of efficiency and consumer engagement (e.g., [48]).…”

Challenges to providing quality substance abuse treatment services for American Indian and Alaska native communities: perspectives of staff from 18 treatment centers

“…Such challenges that have been previously cited include clients’ extensive socioeconomic needs [ 10 - 12 ] and treatment programs’ insufficient (qualified) staff and inadequate resources [ 2 - 4 ]. Service/treatment systems’ limited aftercare options, inadequate services to address medical and psychiatric comorbidities [ 2 , 13 ], overwhelming paperwork demands, [ 6 ] and poor integration between all phases of care from detoxification to community reintegration have also been noted. Because we did not include programs serving non-AI/AN communities in this sample, this partitioning of factors into general and AI/AN-specific categories is largely dependent upon the admittedly limited literature in this area, and some of the factors that we identify as AI/AN-specific may in fact apply to substance abuse services for other populations, particularly those focused on serving other indigenous communities.…”

“…Unlike the majority of medical care in the United States, substance abuse treatment relies primarily on public rather than private sources, resulting in chronic underfunding. The substance abuse treatment infrastructure is further undermined by high rates of staff turnover and treatment center closures and by overwhelming data collection requirements for accreditation and reimbursement [ 3 , 5 , 6 ]. Additionally, unlike other developed countries such as the United Kingdom, in the United States no centralized authority mandates the implementation of uniform standards or evidence-based practices [ 7 ].…”

Training Addiction Counselors to Implement an Evidence-Based Intervention: Strategies for Increasing Organizational and Provider Acceptance

“…Addiction counselors working in public sector treatment settings carry heavy caseloads, treat challenging clients, frequently work in understaffed facilities, and have large paperwork burdens (Carise, Love, Zur, McLellan, & Kemp, 2009). Burnout is common and turnover rates are high (McLellan, Carise, & Kleber, 2003).…”