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Doctors Are in the House
For better or worse, physicians and their governing bodies are coming to the forefront on the need to address substance use problems in primary care settings. The Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, a group convened by the American Medical Association, announced today its adoption of clinical performance measures for the treatment of patients with known substance use disorders. The consortium has never before enacted measures related to substance use, and its push for integrated care goes beyond that. The new measures also are intended to facilitate early identification of depression in individuals with substance use problems. A growing number of addiction treatment experts are viewing these kinds of developments as partnership opportunities for the specialty addiction treatment community. Look for a leading medical director's perspective on this issue in the July/August Addiction Professional, and let us know what you think about primary care's interest in addiction issues.
