Unhealthy Alcohol Use Tools & Resources

Describes how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is implementing strategies to ensure patients are receiving health care services to meet their behavioral health needs and how CMS is working to meet the goals of President Biden's "Strategy to Address our National Mental Health Crisis"

Presents strategies for using virtual methods for practice facilitation and addressing common challenges, including hybrid participation, collaboration platforms, and assisting with technology

Review of findings on efficacy of using telehealth for treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs) including alcohol use disorder, suggesting limited evidence to date about telehealth compared to in-person care for SUDs

Review of the literature related to the use of telehealth services in primary care and challenges experienced with implementation

Explores the use of technology to facilitate behavioral health and primary care integration with a focus on (1) screening for behavioral health issues, (2) clinician documentation, and (3) sharing data among clinicians, patients, and authorized parties. Details action-oriented recommendations and strategies for safe use of health IT for stakeholders and policymakers seeking to advance efforts to integrate behavioral health with primary care

Describes the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) initiative to improve primary care management of unhealthy alcohol use (UAU), and highlights needed changes in electronic health record systems to improve screening and counseling for UAU as well as meet the National Academies' digital health recommendation for information technology that best serves patients and care teams

Describes the process for adoption of telehealth for patient care inside Kaiser Permanente and Intermountain Healthcare, showing the benefits of telehealth in reducing expensive and unnecessary trips to hospitals, how it can make care safer and more efficient and address disparities in care, and discussing what is needed to help other health systems adopt this new technology

Literature review exploring the efficacy of telehealth for substance use disorder treatment (including alcohol use disorder) during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on treatment in California