A simple tool can help identify and treat addiction while creating data for future programs and policies

Treating opioid addiction requires practitioners to use multifaceted approaches, and adding process for regularly screening for Opioid Use Disorder is a small tool that can make big difference in patient intervention and data-driven policy, reports Kaitlyn Levinso of Route Fifty. "An under-utilized 'starting point for evaluating care is measuring what portion of the population is diagnosed with OUD. Knowing this information will help policymakers understand how well treatment systems identify people with OUD, which is the first step in getting them needed care,' said Alexandra Duncan, project director of Pew Charitable Trust's substance use prevention and treatment initiative."

Only two states are measuring for OUD as a part of their regular assessment tools for Medicaid patients. "Indiana and West Virginia have leveraged the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment, or SBIRT, model, an evidence-based approach for talking with patients about the use and misuse of drugs and alcohol," Levinso writes. "It helps health care providers flag concerning substance use behaviors in Medicaid patients and intervene with necessary resources and services to aid patient prevention or treatment and recovery of SUDs."

The Indiana SBIRT program provides practitioners with alcohol and drug abuse screening tools, Levinso reports. They also use "the CRAFFT tool, which helps identify substance use and associated behaviors in youth and adolescents, among others. The SBIRT model has been expanded for use at community health centers, federally qualified health centers and rural health centers in Indiana."

As states receive opioid settlement funds distributions, it could be an opportune time to focus on screening as a relatively inexpensive way to combat OUD. Duncan told Levinso: "These data will provide states with crucial information on allocating scarce resources more effectively, whether through increasing SUD screening or other data-driven treatment system improvements."