Profiting and providing less care: comprehensive services at for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs in the United States.

Bachhuber MA, Southern WN, Cunningham CO. Profiting and providing less care: comprehensive services at for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs in the United States. Medical care. 2014 May 1; 52(5):428-34.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorders are frequently associated with medical and psychiatric comorbidities (eg, HIV infection and depression), as well as social problems (eg, lack of health insurance). Comprehensive services addressing these conditions improve outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To compare the proportion of for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs offering comprehensive services, which are not mandated by government regulations. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional analysis of opioid treatment programs offering outpatient care in the United States (n = 1036). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Self-reported offering of communicable disease (HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and viral hepatitis) testing, psychiatric services (screening, assessment and diagnostic evaluation, and pharmacotherapy), and social services support (assistance in applying for programs such as Medicaid). Mixed-effects logistic regression models were developed to adjust for several county-level factors. RESULTS: Of opioid treatment programs, 58.0% were for profit, 33.5% were nonprofit, and 8.5% were public. Nonprofit programs were more likely than for-profit programs to offer testing for all communicable diseases [adjusted odds ratios (AOR), 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2, 2.5], all psychiatric services (AOR, 8.0; 95% CI, 4.9, 13.1), and social services support (AOR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.3, 4.8). Public programs were also more likely than for-profit programs to offer communicable disease testing (AOR, 6.4; 95% CI, 3.5, 11.7), all psychiatric services (AOR, 25.8; 95% CI, 12.6, 52.5), and social services support (AOR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.4, 4.3). CONCLUSIONS: For-profit programs were significantly less likely than nonprofit and public programs to offer comprehensive services. Interventions to increase the offering of comprehensive services are needed, particularly among for-profit programs.