Key DFM Personnel

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

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
Elizabeth Strauss, Process Improvement Coach, Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment

Funding

U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), administered by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).

Program Summary

Wisconsin was selected as one of nine states nation-wide to participate in this grant program that began in October 2006. The purpose of the grant is 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 by impacting client access to and retention in outpatient substance abuse treatment services. This is done through quality improvement projects that address one of four aims where the delivery of treatment is concerned:

1. To reduce the wait time between a client's first request for service and the first treatment session
2. To reduce client no-shows
3. To increase addiction treatment centers' admissions
4. To increase the treatment continuation rate between the first and fourth treatment sessions

The collection and reporting of data is central to the NIATx model. Baseline data is gathered by the Providing Organization, followed by a rapid-cycle quality improvement cycle, and concluding with post change data. This feedback is best utilized when the Change Teams at the Providing Organization, make continued decisions about next quality improvement projects to pursue, based on the data.

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 third year, 28 agencies are currently participating with continued efforts in outreach. Our current participants include:

• 7C's Community Counseling Clinic - Milwaukee
• Arbor Place - Menomonie
• Access, Inc. - Spooner
• 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
• Dennis Hill Harm Reduction Center - Milwaukee
• Door County Department of Community Programs - Sturgeon Bay
• Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin Inc. - Green Bay
• Genesis Behavioral Services Inc. - West Bend
• Grant/Iowa Counties Unified Community Services - Lancaster
• Gundersen Lutheran Behavioral Health - 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 Crosse County Human Services - La Crosse
• Mental Health Center of Dane County - Dane
• Meta House - Milwaukee
• Oakwood Clinical Associates - Kenosha
• Polk County Human Service Department - Balsam Lake
• Racine Psychological Services Inc. - Racine
• St. Croix County Health & Human Services - New Richmond
• St. Joseph's Hospital, Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services - Marshfield
• Tamarack Behavioral Health Center - Manitowoc
• ThedaCare Behavioral Health - Menasha
• Tri-County Women's Outreach of the Human Service Center -Rhinelander
• Waukesha County Health and Human Services - Waukesha
• 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 three face-to-face learning sessions per calendar year. They also participate in monthly 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. Once the grant has ended on September 30, 2009, Wisconsin is hopeful that organizations will continue with the quality improvement principles that they have learned to be effective in their organization.

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