Feasibility of audit methods to study access to substance use treatment
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UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Emergency MedicineDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2013-11-01Keywords
Access to careAudit study
Substance use treatment
Emergency Medicine
Health Services Administration
Substance Abuse and Addiction
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Audit studies represent an emerging method for examining disparities in access to care, like substance use treatment, whereby fake patients (i.e., actors) attempt to procure a service with one or more characteristics isolated across condition. This allows for manipulation of variables, like insurance status, that are normally fixed or impossible to standardize with precision when studying actual patients. This pilot study explored whether these methods were feasible for the examination of community-based substance use treatment access. Masked telephone calls (n=48) were made to providers (k=8) in a single city seeking an appointment. A male and female "patient" made calls in three insurance status conditions: no insurance, state-funded insurance, and private insurance. All other subject characteristics were held constant. Results showed an audit design to be a feasible method for examining disparities in access and demonstrated substantial barriers to voluntary treatment. Implications and future directions are discussed.Source
Abar B, Abar CC, Boudreaux ED. Feasibility of audit methods to study access to substance use treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2013 Nov-Dec;45(5):395-9. doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2013.06.002. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1016/j.jsat.2013.06.002Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/28533PubMed ID
23871507Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.jsat.2013.06.002