The field of addiction treatment is going through a time of tremendous upheaval. Not only has there been a vast reduction in out-of-network payment options (resulting in some centers having their reimbursement rates cut by 80% or more), but the government has issued new “gold standard” treatment recommendations, and the rules of online marketing have changed. Meanwhile, high insurance deductibles have made many families less able to afford to send their loved ones to treatment.
In the last few years, these changes have driven a lot of addiction treatment providers out of business, regardless of the quality of the treatment they were providing. Because, the fact is, providing good treatment is no longer enough to survive.
Addiction treatment providers are at the mercy of financially-driven payers for one simple reason:
Providers have not had hard data proving how effective their treatment program is compared to others and what it takes for patients to achieve long-term recovery
Vista Research Group is honored to be helping leaders of many of the most respected treatment facilities in the country work together to change this. Together we’re pursuing a four-part strategy:
- Providing each leader with the patient-reported data he or she needs to improve treatment effectiveness at each of their facilities: Vista clients have access to the following research tools in their efforts to continually improve the effectiveness of the treatment they provide:
- Real-time patient monitoring that helps patients get better faster during treatment and identifies patients at higher risk of leaving AMA
- Easy-to-use analytical tools that allow them to identify improvement opportunities by program and by clinician
- Post-treatment outcomes research that reports how their patients are doing one month, six months and 12 months post-treatment and compares their programs’ outcomes to those of similar treatment facilities
- Research reports and strategy sessions that help leadership teams identify opportunities for improvement and develop detailed strategic performance improvement plans for each facility
- Publishing industry-wide findings about the factors affecting treatment effectiveness so everyone in the field can benefit: Vista is using the wealth of data we’re collecting to identify the treatment factors that are most critical for patients attempting to recover from addiction. In early December, Vista will be publishing detailed learnings from monitoring 23,000 patients during addiction treatment and contacting thousands of them post-discharge. Download your free copy now.
- Publically recognizing those treatment programs providing unusually effective addiction treatment: Conquer Addiction, the company Vista’s founder created in 2014 to help parents find effective addiction treatment programs, awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze Excellence in Treatment awards to four facilities with excellent success rates last month. As more treatment facilities begin investing in post-treatment outcomes research, the number of annual award recipients will increase exponentially, allowing consumers (and payers) to use this award to identify programs providing extremely effective treatment.
- Helping programs use their results to negotiate more effectively with payers: While payers have been doing a lot of talking about value-based reimbursement, few addiction treatment providers have been able to negotiate an agreement based on the one outcome that really matters – whether patients are able to survive and thrive long-term. Vista helps clients tailor their outcomes reports for payers and is developing trainings and other materials to help leaders negotiate more effectively with payers.
If you are excited by the idea of being able to use hard data to continually improve the effectiveness of your treatment and to compare your post-treatment outcome results with those of other leading programs, learn about the research tools other innovative leaders are taking advantage of by watching a demo.
