Addiction Treatment, Illicit Drug Abuse Information for Primary Care Physicians

Twin Town Treatment Centers provides intensive outpatient chemical dependency treatment for adolescents and adults at five locations in LA and Orange Counties. Twin Town's services are accredited by JCAHO, certified by the State of California, and paid through contracts with over fifty (50) insurance/ managed care companies. To assist with providing referral information for your office, we've included a list of our larger payor contracts and some brochure panels which describe addiction screening criteria.

"Most physicians report(ed) that they ask patients about illicit drug abuse, but a substantial minority inadequately intervene in diagnosed drug abuse. Initiatives to promote physician involvement in illicit drug abuse should include strategies to increase physicians' confidence in managing drug problems, engender optimism about the benefits of treatment, dispel concerns about patients' sensitivity regarding substance use, and address perceived time limitations. "Screening and Intervention for Illicit Drug Abuse",M Peter D. Friedmann, MD, MPH; Deirdre McCullough, MS; Richard Saitz, MD, MPH Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:248-251"

Twin Town communicates and coordinates care with physicians, therapists and employee assistance counselors. Such collaboration has been demonstrated to render much improved addiction treatment outcomes/ quality patient care.

"Our findings point to the importance of examining comorbid medical conditions and illicit drug abuse in both primary and specialty care. Our findings regarding pain-related diagnoses among patients dependent on narcotic analgesics highlight the need for linkages between primary care and addiction treatment. Moreover, optimal treatment of many common medical disorders may require identification, intervention, and treatment of an underlying substance abuse disorder. Medical and Psychiatric Conditions of Alcohol and Drug Treatment Patients in an HMO. Jennifer R. Mertens, MA; Yun W. Lu, MPH; Sujaya Parthasarathy, PhD; Charles Moore, MD, MBA; Constance M. Weisner, DrPH, MSW Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:2511-2517."

Twin Town is currently seeking relationships with primary care physicians and medical groups where medical and addiction care can be coordinated. Please call us if your medical group is interested and/or has a need for an affiliated provider of addiction treatment.

Brief Intervention:
Substance Abuse
Ask:
Implement an office-wide system that ensures that for every high-risk patient, drug/ alcohol use status is queried and documented


Advise:
In a clear, strong, and personalized manner, urge every drug/ alcohol abuser to quit

Assess:
Ask every drug/ alcohol abuser if he is willing to make an attempt to quit now

Assist:
Help the patient plan; provide practical counseling; recommend treatment resources/ providers/ support

Arrange:
Provide for follow-up support/ phone calls

New CPT Codes will become available in 2008 for billing physician provided substance abuse assessment and brief intervention.

"Patients who go through medically assisted withdrawal to minimize discomfort but do not receive any further treatment, perform about the same in terms of their drug use as those who were never treated." National Institute on Drug Abuse