Strengthening Treatment Access and Retention-State Implementation (STAR-SI)

Key DFM Personnel

Richard L. Brown, MD, MPH - Principal Investigator
Mary Beth Plane, PhD
Deanne Boss, MS - STAR-SI Project Coordinator

Collaborators

John Easterday, PhD, Administrator, WI Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Joyce Allen, Director, WI Bureau of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Michael Quirke, Program Evaluation Coordinator, Bureau of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Funding

Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS)

Program Summary

The Wisconsin STAR-SI Program began in October 2006 as a three-year grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The purpose of the grant was to use the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) Quality Improvement Model to improve organizational processes at the State and treatment agency level to impact client access to and retention in outpatient substance abuse treatment services. The STAR-SI Program has been so successful, that DHS will continue to fund it for an additional year.

The STAR-SI quality improvement projects aim to:

Reduce the wait time between a client's first request for service and the first treatment session
Reduce client no-shows
Increase addiction treatment centers' admissions
Increase the treatment continuation rate between the first and fourth treatment sessions

Collecting and reporting data is central to the NIATx model. Provider agencies collect baseline data before beginning a change. During the rapid-cycle quality improvement cycle, the agency continues to collect data, which they study to determine how the change impacted services. Change Teams at the provider agencies use their data to decide whether to adopt, adapt, or abandon their change project and to decide which quality improvement projects to pursue next.

Spread and sustainability are important concepts in the NIATx model. Initially ten Provider Organizations were participants in the first grant year. As we begin our fourth year, 30 agencies are currently participating and outreach efforts are continuing.

Our current participants include:

7C's Community Counseling Clinic - Milwaukee
Arbor Place - Menomonie
ARC Community Services - Madison
ARC Fond du Lac - Fond du Lac
Ashland Area Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse - Ashland
Beacon House - Fond du Lac
Benedict Center Women's Program - Milwaukee
Brown County Human Service Department - Green Bay
Coulee Council on Addictions - La Crosse
Coulee Youth Council - La Crosse
Dennis Hill Harm Reduction Center - Milwaukee
Door County Department of Community Programs - Sturgeon Bay
Family Services of Madison - Madison
Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin Inc. - Green Bay
Franciscan Skemp - La Crosse
Genesis Behavioral Services Inc. - West Bend
Gundersen Lutheran - La Crosse
Hoffe Counseling Services - La Crosse
Human Development Center of Douglas County Health and Human Services - Superior
Jackie Nitschke Center - Green Bay
Koller Behavioral Health - Howard Young Health Center - Crandon
La Casa de Esperanza - Waukesha
La Crosse County Human Services - La Crosse
Madison Health Services - Madison
Mental Health Center of Dane County - Madison
Meta House - Milwaukee
Oakwood Clinical Associates - Kenosha
Polk County Human Service Department - Balsam Lake
Racine Psychological Services Inc. - Racine
Rock Valley Community Programs - Janesville
St. Croix County Health & Human Services - New Richmond
St. Joseph's Hospital, Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services - Marshfield
Tamarack Behavioral Health Center - Manitowoc
Tellurian, Inc. - Madison
ThedaCare Behavioral Health - Menasha
Tri-County Women's Outreach of the Human Service Center -Rhinelander
Waukesha County Health and Human Services - Waukesha
William S. Middleton Memorial Hospital - Madison
Women's Way of Lutheran Social Services - Eau Claire
Wood County Unified Services - Wisconsin Rapids

To promote sustainability, the staff members at participating Treatment Agencies are trained in the principles of the NIATx Improvement Process through face-to-face learning sessions. They also participate in quarterly group provider teleconference calls to support and promote continued rapid cycling quality improvement projects and network with other providers. Monthly 1:1 coaching calls are an additional option in an effort to support the quality improvement practices providers are implementing.

For more information, please visit:
http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/substabuse/starsi/index.htm
http://www.NIATx.net