• Marcus A Bachhuber, William N Southern, and Chinazo O Cunningham.
• *Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center †Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program ‡Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA §Department of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine ∥Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
• Med Care. 2014 May 1;52(5):428-34.

BackgroundOpioid use disorders are frequently associated with medical and psychiatric comorbidities (eg, HIV infection and depression), as well as social problems (eg, lack of health insurance). Comprehensive services addressing these conditions improve outcomes.ObjectiveTo compare the proportion of for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs offering comprehensive services, which are not mandated by government regulations.Design, Setting, And ParticipantsCross-sectional analysis of opioid treatment programs offering outpatient care in the United States (n=1036).Main Outcome MeasureSelf-reported offering of communicable disease (HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and viral hepatitis) testing, psychiatric services (screening, assessment and diagnostic evaluation, and pharmacotherapy), and social services support (assistance in applying for programs such as Medicaid). Mixed-effects logistic regression models were developed to adjust for several county-level factors.ResultsOf opioid treatment programs, 58.0% were for profit, 33.5% were nonprofit, and 8.5% were public. Nonprofit programs were more likely than for-profit programs to offer testing for all communicable diseases [adjusted odds ratios (AOR), 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2, 2.5], all psychiatric services (AOR, 8.0; 95% CI, 4.9, 13.1), and social services support (AOR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.3, 4.8). Public programs were also more likely than for-profit programs to offer communicable disease testing (AOR, 6.4; 95% CI, 3.5, 11.7), all psychiatric services (AOR, 25.8; 95% CI, 12.6, 52.5), and social services support (AOR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.4, 4.3).ConclusionsFor-profit programs were significantly less likely than nonprofit and public programs to offer comprehensive services. Interventions to increase the offering of comprehensive services are needed, particularly among for-profit programs.

26 keywords...

hide…