Health Services Research for Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Prevention

• DOI: 10.1177/002204260903900115
• Author: Dennis McCarty,Paul M. Roman,Constance Weisner,James L. Sorensen
• Date: 01 January 2009
• Published date: 01 January 2009
• Subject Matter: Article

© 2009 BY THE JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES

JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES 0022-0426/09/01 197-208

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Dennis McCarty, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at

Oregon Health & Science University. He collaborates with policy makers in state and federal government

and with community-based programs to examine the organization, f‌i nancing, and delivery of publicly

funded treatment services for alcohol and drug disorders. Paul M. Roman, Ph.D., is Distinguished

Research Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Research on Behavioral Health and Human

Service Delivery. His career interests have focused on multiple levels of health services, from individual

reluctance to use treatment services to the reorganization of state systems to increase effectiveness.

James L. Sorensen, Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and

San Francisco General Hospital. He specializes in exploring how to close the gap between treatment and

research in the area of drug abuse. Constance Weisner, DrPH, LCSW, is a Professor in the Department

of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, and an Investigator at the Division of Research,

Northern California Kaiser Permanente. She directs a research program addressing access, outcome,

and cost-effectiveness of alcohol and drug treatment.

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH FOR DRUG AND A LCOHOL

TREATMENT AND PREVENTION

DENNIS MCCARTY, PAUL M. ROMAN, JAMES L. SORENSEN, CONSTANCE WEISNER

Health services research is a multidisciplinary f‌i eld that examines ways to organize,

manage, f‌i nance, and deliver high-quality care. This specialty within substance

abuse research developed from policy analyses and needs assessments that

shaped federal policy and promoted system development in the 1970s. After the

authorization of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and

the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), patient information systems supported

studies of treatment processes and outcomes. Health services research grew

substantially in the 1990s when NIAAA and NIDA moved into the National Institutes of

Health, and legislation allocated 15% of their research portfolio to services research.

The next decade will emphasize research on quality of care, adoption and use of

evidence-based practices (including medication), f‌i nancing reforms, and integration

of substance abuse treatment with primary care and mental health services.

INTRODUCTION

Health services research is a multidisciplinary f‌i eld that examines the inf‌l uences

of the organization and delivery of health care on access, use, quality, and cost of

health care. The f‌i eld traces its roots to work in the early 20th century that described

and assessed the nation’s systems of health care and emerged most directly from