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AHRQ: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Substance Use Tools & Resources   

Read the Guide

This collection of tools and resources is for providers, staff, and patients who offer or use services to address substance use, and other interested stakeholders. This collection was originally established following an environmental scan on implementing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in rural primary care. (See PDFs of Volume 1 (PDF - 609 KB) and Volume 2 (PDF - 1.3 MB) of that scan). Items have been continuously added to this collection since then, and the collection has expanded to cover substance use more broadly, rather than just MAT for OUD.

Displaying 61 - 70 of 978

Comprehensive Approaches and Cross-Cutting Tools

Examples on this page illustrate how several different states have taken a comprehensive approach through overall system transformation and/or strategic disruptive investments.
Format
Toolkit
Audience
Policymakers and Payers
Communities
States
Medical Providers
Behavioral Health Providers
Other Team Members
Source
National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)
Year
Resource Type
Web Page

Conceptual Framework and Strategic Considerations for Modernizing Behavioral Health Systems

This page and graphic provides a high-level framework for a modernized behavioral health system. The conceptual frame synthesizes key components of a behavioral health continuum of care and cross-cutting principles from expert input and best practice approaches.
Format
Toolkit
Audience
Policymakers and Payers
Communities
States
Medical Providers
Behavioral Health Providers
Other Team Members
Source
National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)
Year
Resource Type
Web Page

Conversation Paths To Support Loved Ones (PDF - 872 KB)

This resource provides information to loved ones on how to have conversations with people experiencing a substance use challenge.
Format
Toolkit
Audience
Families
Communities
Behavioral Health Providers
Other Team Members
Medical Providers
Source
National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Year
Resource Type
PDF

DAWN Network Watch (PDF - 455 KB)

This Network Watch presents drug street names that appeared in DAWN data for the first time from January 2023 to August 2024.
Format
Advisory
Audience
Medical Providers
Behavioral Health Providers
First Responders
Source
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA)
Year
Resource Type
PDF

Defining the State Role in Primary Care Reform (PDF - 390 KB)

This issue brief and accompanying federal alignment tool offer a template for systematically evaluating how state activities align with each of the federal government's primary care intiatives. It also describes six key activities that will help states best leverage their authority.
Format
Report/Paper/Issue Brief
Audience
States
Policymakers and Payers
Source
Milbank Memorial Fund
Year
Resource Type
PDF

Developing a Database of SUD Treatment Needs (PDF - 1586 KB)

A 2020 study examined the feasibility of using substance use disorder (SUD) patient intake assessment data as source of information for treatment planning. Patients are often assessed at the beginning of SUD treatment as part of the treatment planning process and to determine the most appropriate level of care (LOC). This report and issue brief describe the data received from four states that collected LOC assessment data and the process for linking the LOC assessment data with SUD utilization data.
Format
Report/Paper/Issue Brief
Audience
States
Policymakers and Payers
Source
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
Year
Resource Type
PDF

Doctors reluctant to treat addiction most commonly report “lack of institutional support” as barrier

This news release summarizes a new study which identified the top reasons why some physicians may be reluctant to intervene in addiction. The comprehensive review, pulling 283 studies published on this topic within the last 61 years, showed that “institutional environment” was the reason most frequently reported in these studies.
Format
Web Page
Audience
Behavioral Health Providers
Medical Providers
Patients
Policymakers and Payers
Source
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Year
Resource Type
Web Page