CENTER FOR POLICY RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Translating Research into Policy Solutions
Director: Mady Chalk, Ph.D.
Selected Past Projects
NQF Treatment Standards: Mady Chalk, Ph.D., Richard Rawson, Ph.D. (UCLA), Jack Kemp
TRI and the University of California–Los Angeles convened stakeholder workshops to disseminate information about the National Quality Forum standards for treatment of substance use disorders and explore implementation issues in public and private sector treatment systems. The project was funded by grant from the Open Society Institute. A workshop for states was hosted by TRI in September 2010 and attended by representatives of 25 states.
Program to Integrate Substance Use Issues into Mainstream Healthcare “PRISM”: A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D.; Barbara Turner, M.D. Launched in 2002 by TRI and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, this groundbreaking project sought to engage doctors and other primary care specialists in patient substance use issues by demonstrating that the course, treatment and outcomes of many common medical conditions could be affected by drinking and drug taking, even at levels below the threshold for addiction. In 2006, persuaded by still-emerging findings, four of the nation’s most respected medical societies joined the project. By 2008, final project results were replete with evidence of the effects of alcohol and other drug use on chronic medical conditions.
Advancing Recovery: Mady Chalk, Ph.D. Under a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, TRI and the Network for Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) co-directed “Advancing Recovery: State Provider Partnerships for Quality Addiction Care.” The project provided technical assistance and coaching to competitively selected partnerships of state agencies and treatment providers to increase the use of evidence-based administrative and clinical practices in addiction treatment.
Educating State Legislators on the Outcomes of Addiction Treatment and Approaches to Measuring Performance: A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., Mady Chalk, Ph.D., Deni Carise, Ph.D., Douglas Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D. In 2009 this SAMHSA-funded project ended its final phase of bringing scientists to State capitols to discuss ways the quality of addiction treatment can be improved through performance measurement. The many topics covered at these locally-designed briefings included monitoring outcomes of expenditures, tracking return on investment, re-directing savings through cost-offset studies, developing performance-based contracting systems, and improving purchasing practices. Funded under Partners for Recovery through Abt Associates, the project was led by the State Associations of Addictions Services with TRI and NCSL.
COMAT (Center on the Organization and Management of Addiction Treatment) A. Thomas McLellan, PhD; Constance Pechura, PhD; John Kimberly, PhD (Wharton at UPenn), Mady Chalk, PhD: Multi-year, collaborative project between TRI and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania sponsored conferences, policy maker meetings, and publications examining the “business” of addiction treatment in the U.S.
