AIMS: Improvement collaboratives consisting of various components are used throughout health care to improve quality, but no study has identified which components work best. This study tested the effectiveness of different components in addiction treatment services, hypothesizing that a combination of all components would be most effective. DESIGN: An unblinded cluster-randomized trial assigned clinics to one of four groups: interest circle calls (group teleconferences), clinic-level coaching, learning sessions (large face-to-face meetings) and a combination of all three. Interest circle calls functioned as a minimal intervention comparison group. SETTING:Out-patient addiction treatment clinics in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and one clinics in five states. MEASUREMENTS: Clinic data managers submitted data on three primary outcomes: waiting-time (mean days between first contact and first treatment), retention (percentage of patients retained from first to fourth treatment session) and annual number of new patients. State and group costs were collected for a cost-effectiveness analysis. FINDINGS:Waiting-time declined significantly for three groups: coaching (an average of 4.6 days/clinic, P = 0.001), learning sessions (3.5 days/clinic, P = 0.012) and the combination (4.7 days/clinic, P = 0.001). The coaching and combination groups increased significantly the number of new patients (19.5%, P = 0.028; 8.9%, P = 0.029; respectively). Interest circle calls showed no significant effect on outcomes. None of the groups improved retention significantly. The estimated cost per clinic was $2878 for coaching versus $7930 for the combination. Coaching and the combination of collaborative components were about equally effective in achieving study aims, but coaching was substantially more cost-effective. CONCLUSIONS: When trying to improve the effectiveness of addiction treatment services, clinic-level coaching appears to help improve waiting-time and number of new patients while other components of improvement collaboratives (interest circles calls and learning sessions) do not seem to add further value.
RCT Entities:
AIMS: Improvement collaboratives consisting of various components are used throughout health care to improve quality, but no study has identified which components work best. This study tested the effectiveness of different components in addiction treatment services, hypothesizing that a combination of all components would be most effective. DESIGN: An unblinded cluster-randomized trial assigned clinics to one of four groups: interest circle calls (group teleconferences), clinic-level coaching, learning sessions (large face-to-face meetings) and a combination of all three. Interest circle calls functioned as a minimal intervention comparison group. SETTING: Out-patient addiction treatment clinics in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and one clinics in five states. MEASUREMENTS: Clinic data managers submitted data on three primary outcomes: waiting-time (mean days between first contact and first treatment), retention (percentage of patients retained from first to fourth treatment session) and annual number of new patients. State and group costs were collected for a cost-effectiveness analysis. FINDINGS: Waiting-time declined significantly for three groups: coaching (an average of 4.6 days/clinic, P = 0.001), learning sessions (3.5 days/clinic, P = 0.012) and the combination (4.7 days/clinic, P = 0.001). The coaching and combination groups increased significantly the number of new patients (19.5%, P = 0.028; 8.9%, P = 0.029; respectively). Interest circle calls showed no significant effect on outcomes. None of the groups improved retention significantly. The estimated cost per clinic was $2878 for coaching versus $7930 for the combination. Coaching and the combination of collaborative components were about equally effective in achieving study aims, but coaching was substantially more cost-effective. CONCLUSIONS: When trying to improve the effectiveness of addiction treatment services, clinic-level coaching appears to help improve waiting-time and number of new patients while other components of improvement collaboratives (interest circles calls and learning sessions) do not seem to add further value.
Authors: J ØVretveit; P Bate; P Cleary; S Cretin; D Gustafson; K McInnes; H McLeod; T Molfenter; P Plsek; G Robert; S Shortell; T Wilson Journal: Qual Saf Health Care Date: 2002-12
Authors: Deborah W Garnick; Constance M Horgan; Margaret T Lee; Lee Panas; Grant A Ritter; Steve Davis; Tracy Leeper; Rebecca Moore; Mark Reynolds Journal: J Subst Abuse Treat Date: 2007-05-23
Authors: J D Horbar; J Rogowski; P E Plsek; P Delmore; W H Edwards; J Hocker; A D Kantak; P Lewallen; W Lewis; E Lewit; C J McCarroll; D Mujsce; N R Payne; P Shiono; R F Soll; K Leahy; J H Carpenter Journal: Pediatrics Date: 2001-01 Impact factor: 7.124
Authors: Kim A Hoffman; Andrew Quanbeck; James H Ford; Fritz Wrede; Dagan Wright; Dawn Lambert-Wacey; Phil Chvojka; Andrew Hanchett; Dennis McCarty Journal: Health Informatics J Date: 2011-12 Impact factor: 2.681
Authors: Dennis McCarty; David H Gustafson; Jennifer P Wisdom; Jay Ford; Dongseok Choi; Todd Molfenter; Victor Capoccia; Frances Cotter Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend Date: 2006-11-28 Impact factor: 4.492
Authors: Laura J Damschroder; David C Aron; Rosalind E Keith; Susan R Kirsh; Jeffery A Alexander; Julie C Lowery Journal: Implement Sci Date: 2009-08-07 Impact factor: 7.327
Authors: Andrew R Quanbeck; David H Gustafson; James H Ford; Alice Pulvermacher; Michael T French; K John McConnell; Dennis McCarty Journal: Implement Sci Date: 2011-04-27 Impact factor: 7.327
Authors: Benjamin R Nordstrom; Elizabeth C Saunders; Bethany McLeman; Andrea Meier; Haiyi Xie; Chantal Lambert-Harris; Beth Tanzman; John Brooklyn; Gregory King; Nels Kloster; Clifton Frederick Lord; William Roberts; Mark P McGovern Journal: J Addict Med Date: 2016 Mar-Apr Impact factor: 3.702
Authors: Prerna G Arora; Elizabeth H Connors; Melissa W George; Aaron R Lyon; Courtney B Wolk; Mark D Weist Journal: Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev Date: 2016-12
Authors: Jennifer Pankow; Jennifer Willett; Yang Yang; Holly Swan; Richard Dembo; William M Burdon; Yvonne Patterson; Frank S Pearson; Steven Belenko; Linda K Frisman Journal: J Behav Health Serv Res Date: 2018-04 Impact factor: 1.505