It was late on a Friday night when the call came in. A young man who had left addiction treatment a month earlier was willing to complete his one month survey over the phone.
Vista has a team of warm and persuasive outcomes researchers who do an incredible job keeping former patients engaged as they answer the myriad of detailed questions on each Vista outcomes survey. This particular night, no one else was available to take the call and it was routed to me.
He was in a great mood. When the loud party sounds made it difficult for him to hear, he stepped out onto the balcony. I continued through the survey, drilling down from general to very specific questions:
“When was the last time you used cocaine?”
“Hmm…”, he answered with a laugh. “Five minutes ago!?!”
I kept myself from reacting and moved on to the next question and then the next.
Unlike our regular outcomes researchers, patience is not my strong suit. As thoughts of “this kid must really want his gift card” and “it’s really late; why aren’t I in bed?” went through my head, I almost skipped asking the very last question:
“Would you like to talk with someone at __ Recovery (his former treatment center) about possibly going back to treatment?”
The light-hearted banter stopped. The phone line fell silent for what seemed like an eternity. In a much quieter, thoughtful voice, he said “Yes, I think I would”. As I pressed “Submit” on the survey, the mom in me fervently hoped this young man would carry through on returning to treatment and get back on the road to recovery.
How many patients are interested in returning to treatment?
Quite a lot, actually. Over the last nine years, Vista has attempted to contact 23,553 adult SUD patients one year after they left treatment. Most of these patients were also reached out to at one and six months post-treatment.
Among this group of former addiction treatment patients, 17% reported having recently used alcohol and/or non-prescribed drugs on at least one of their surveys:
When we asked these individuals if they would like to be contacted by their former treatment center to discuss potentially returning to treatment, a surprising number said yes:
19% of patients who report having recently used drugs or alcohol ask to
be contacted by their former treatment center to discuss returning to treatment
To ensure that the treatment center can act quickly, Vista’s software instantly notifies the admissions team at a center when a former patient submits a survey saying they want to be contacted.
Would you like to be notified when your former patients are interested in returning to treatment?
If so, schedule a 15-minute discovery call with a Vista advisor. We can help you calculate how few former patients you would have to recruit back to treatment to fully cover your outcomes research costs. And don’t forget that Vista can also provide the data you need to negotiate more effectively with payers and get 13% more days approved.
Frankly, I don’t see how you can afford NOT to use Vista’s outcomes research! 😊 Let’s talk soon.
Joanna
