Substance abuse is a longstanding epidemic in America, but the recent surge in opioid addiction and related deaths brings new urgency to addressing the problem. Since 2000, drug overdose deaths have increased 137 percent, with opioid-overdose related deaths at the forefront. In 2014, overdoses claimed more than 47,000 American lives, including nearly 30,000 due to opioid overdose. These alarming statistics demand national action.
Data analysis is now playing an important role in combating opioid addiction. State medical boards and health officials are monitoring prescribing patterns to identify doctors who may be overprescribing opioid drugs. The Department of Justice is also developing new methods to share real-time data between public health and public safety officials nationwide. In addition to these initiatives, which focus on the use of data by government officials, there is an opportunity to use a different kind of data—open data about treatment facilities—to help people affected by opioid abuse.
Opioid addicts and their families often have difficulty accessing treatment. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2014 only about 12 percent of the 21.2 million Americans who needed treatment for an illegal drug or alcohol problem obtained it. While the cost and limited availability of treatment are factors, even people who are committed to getting help have difficulty finding effective treatment: There is no centralized resource they can use to evaluate different options to make an informed choice.
SAMHSA should work with treatment facilities, state health agencies, and the research community to develop a plan to build such a resource. As a first step of the plan, SAMHSA should develop a taxonomy for collecting data from treatment facilities, including performance data and other factors such as treatment availability, services provided, cost, accepted insurance, and any restrictions on treatment (e.g., some facilities do not treat minors or individuals with prior convictions). The nonprofit Treatment Research Institute has developed quality effectiveness ratings for treatment facilities that are based on scientific research. SAMHSA should leverage this effort or similar projects to ensure the performance data is based on empirical principles for what constitutes sound, effective care.
The second step should focus on data collection. SAMHSA should develop a method for reliably and consistently collecting this information from treatment centers around the country. SAMHSA should explore ways to ensure unbiased reporting at regular intervals, including collecting data through state health agencies or partnering with nonprofits, such as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
The final step of the plan should lead to an open, easy-to-use online portal that displays this information for the public. SAMHSA should consider basing this portal on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Hospital Compare program. Hospital Compare is a consumer-oriented website that provides information on hospital quality. Similarly, the treatment facility comparison portal will provide details on treatment center quality and other basic information that may influence decision making, with similar features such as search by zip code.
In addition to helping opioid abusers and their families, this portal would be valuable for the wide network of individuals working to help addicted people, including police officers, social workers, public defenders, and community leaders. Many communities have embraced a public health solution to the opioid epidemic through medication-assisted treatment and are working to help individuals fight their addiction and avoid incarceration.
Researchers and policymakers can combine data on treatment facilities with existing datasets from the Centers for Disease Control, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other data from the Department of Justice and HHS, to identify high-priority areas that are in need of clinics, doctors and treatment centers. They can then use that data analysis to make concrete recommendations to shift federal resources to communities that need them to address the opioid epidemic.
Data on treatment facilities can ultimately serve to improve those facilities themselves. Analysts can review the data collected for this portal to show which kinds of treatment are most effective for specific patient populations, to identify trends in treatment approaches, and to identify facilities that may be providing substandard care. Once the portal is established, SAMHSA should consider developing a confidential, universal patient survey that would support these goals by adding data about patients’ experience with these facilities.