Integrated Care Equals the Best Option for Opioid-Impacted Families
As a trailblazer in program integration, Tarzana Treatment Centers (TTC) offers integrated care for substance use disorder and mental health treatment. On the homepage of the TTC website, this organizational approach is the first thing a visitor sees. Indeed, the central theme is “Compassionate, Professional Healthcare.” Moreover, the homepage states, “We provide whole-person healthcare through our integrated programs of primary medical and behavioral healthcare.”
Therefore, we celebrate a new study that will be published in the Journal of Academic Pediatrics. The study reveals that integrated care is the best option for helping opioid-impacted families. Without question, Caring for Families Impacted by Opioid Use: A Qualitative Analysis of Integrated Program Designsunderscores the TTC approach. From the beginning, we treat the whole person and the whole family. Although effective in the context of opioid-impacted families, TTC takes it further. Thus, we believe that such a treatment model is effective for substance use disorder and mental health treatment across the board.
A Qualitative Analysis of Integrated Care
According to the new article, the objectives of the study are two-fold. First, the researchers wanted to identify integrated care models for families impacted by opioid use disorder (OUD) in the postpartum year. Second, once they identified these programs, the goal is to describe how each program came about and was maintained over time. By embracing a methodology of in-depth semi-structured interviews with OUD programs for women and children across the country.
Once complete, the results of the interviews are triangulated with experts in program implementation. Thus, the study asks whether a program works effectively only in a particular context. Instead, the hope is that such programs possess the ability to be successful beyond that context. Moreover, what program elements prove to be transferable. Hence, the goal is to foster integrated care that is transferable, affordable, and, ultimately, accessible.
The Costly Challenge of Providing Integrated Care
The results of the study show that a multitude of programs are in play. However, most of these programs are not viable beyond the microcosm of their specific implementation. Indeed, for integrated care to be effective in non-treatment settings, many families require supportive, frequent visits with various providers. Given the constraints around billable services, such integrated care proves to be prohibitively expensive.
Moreover, many medical and behavioral care providers are siloed. Siloed means that they lack experience integrating their care with other providers outside their specialty. Once siloed, care providers find integrating their work with other diverse providers difficult. Indeed, open minds that lead to qualitative, multi-dimensional care are not common. Instead, behavioral care providers and medical care providers divide. Thus, they set up separate territories. Frustrating to both patients and providers, these separate territories often fail to communicate.
Integrated Care Programs at Tarzana Treatment Centers
As one of the largest nonprofit providers of whole-person healthcare in California, Tarzana Treatment Centers experiences the success of integrated programs. Instead of relying on multiple providers that lack integration, TTC places the providers under a single umbrella. Indeed, such an approach is the key to successful integration. Faced with the impact of opioid use disorder, other substance abuse disorders, or mental health issues, the key is such integration.
As the authors of the new study express, “removing barriers to integrating medical and behavioral services” is essential. Moreover, “successful programs prioritized care coordination, removing barriers to integrating medical and behavioral services.” By promoting whole-person integrated programs, recovery is a real possibility for opioid-impacted families.