BETHESDA, MD. — The current economic downturn has had a substantial impact on the prevalence and treatment of addiction in the United States, according to preliminary findings, Paul Roman, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the Association of Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, which was sponsored by Brown Medical School.
Dr. Roman and Amanda J. Abraham, Ph.D., both of the University of Georgia, Atlanta, collected data during interviews with treatment program administrators in the Clinical Trial Program (198), privately run programs (345), and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (350).
The administrators reported a mean reduction of 13% in overall budget, 22% in grant funding, 17% in Medicaid income, and 12% in insurance payments. The dip in grant allocations alone correlated with an increase in uncollectible revenues, a decrease in staff and treatment slots, and the implementation of hiring freezes, he said.
Staff losses and hiring freezes cut across the management, counselor, and support staff categories: 14% of interviewees reported cuts at management level, 27% reported counselor losses, and 25% support staff losses. One-third of those interviewed said there had been hiring freezes across all three staff categories. Commensurate with these staff cuts, particularly at the counselor level, was a reduction in the number of treatment slots, which was reported by 12% of the interviewees. At the same time, there was a mean overall increase of 18% in patients.
Dr. Roman had no financial disclosures. The study was funded by National Institute of Drug Abuse and the NIAAA.