Veterans Affairs facility performance on Washington Circle indicators and casemix-adjusted effectiveness.

Harris AH, Humphreys K, Finney JW. Veterans Affairs facility performance on Washington Circle indicators and casemix-adjusted effectiveness. Journal of substance abuse treatment. 2007 Dec 1; 33(4):333-9.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• RCS 04-141 – Evaluating Treatment & Self-help Methods of Improving Functioning & Quality of Life Outcomes of Patients with Substance Abuse Disorders
• IIR 07-092 – Process Quality Measures of Addiction Care: Validation and Refinement
• SUS 99-015 – System for Monitoring Substance Abuse Patients' Outcomes and Care

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Abstract:

Self-administered Addiction Severity Index (ASI) data were collected on 5,723 patients who received substance abuse treatment in 1 of 110 programs located at 73 Veterans Affairs facilities. The associations between each of three Washington Circle (WC) performance indicator scores (identification, initiation, and engagement) and their casemix-adjusted facility-level improvement in ASI drug and alcohol composites 7 months after intake were estimated. Higher initiation rates were not associated with facility-level improvement in ASI alcohol composite scores but were modestly associated with greater improvements in ASI drug composite scores. Identification and engagement rates were unrelated to 7-month outcomes. WC indicators focused on the early stages of treatment may tap necessary but insufficient processes for patients with substance use disorder to achieve good posttreatment outcomes. Ideally, the WC indicators would be supplemented with other measures of treatment quality.