Mission: Help One Million More Americans Recover from Addiction by 2030
Part One of Two: The Conquer Addiction Moonshot's Progress to Date
Reviewing the one year post-treatment outcomes for 19,319 patients attending almost 100 different rehabs since 2016 reveals a disappointing fact:
There has been no improvement in the effectiveness
of addiction treatment in the last 30 years
In 1993, the last federally-funded large-scale addiction treatment outcomes study found that 36% of patients attending short-term, therapy-based addiction treatment programs were abstaining from alcohol and all non-prescribed drugs one year post-treatment. One year outcomes from Conquer Addiction’s sister organization, Vista Research Group, found the same 36% abstinence rate:
The research studies differed in key ways. Most importantly, the DATOS researchers could take patients out for coffee or track them down under bridges and, thus, were able to eventually contact 70% of their patients. Because Vista can only contact former patients by text, email or phone call, our researchers were only able to reach 42% of the patients. However, the fact that the additional 28% of patients reached in the DATOS study were all using confirms the assumption both research studies made that the patients who don’t respond are likely using.
Why There's Hope
On the positive side, we’ve also learned that the effectiveness of rehabs varies tremendously. At the best centers, as many as 50% of former patients are abstaining from alcohol and all non-prescribed drugs for at least the last 30 days one year after discharge. At the worst, less than 20% are:
Interestingly, we see a similar variation in recovery rates by health insurance payer:
The fact that outcomes vary so much by rehab and by payer is actually great news, because it shows how much opportunity for improvement there is!
So Why Haven't Rehab Success Rates Improved in 30 Years?
We believe there are two issues that have kept addiction treatment outcomes from getting better:
There’s no transparency or accountability for addiction treatment outcomes. Rehabs providing particularly effective treatment aren’t being rewarded and health insurance payers kicking patients out of treatment far too early aren’t being penalized.
- We’re not steering individuals to the type of treatment most likely to be effective for them based on their drug use history and demographic or psychographic factors. Patients tend to receive the type of treatment provided by the rehab closest to them or suggested by their insurance company.
The Conquer Addiction Moonshot plans to tackle both of these problems over the next several years. We are focusing first on providing transparency and holding rehabs accountable for addiction treatment outcomes.
Helping Patients Find Effective Treatment
In June 2020, Conquer Addiction launched the first nonprofit directory of addiction treatment centers with independently-verified success rates. Families searching for treatment can enter the criteria they’re looking for and receive a list of relevant centers with those with the best outcomes at the top of the list. They can see the actual research results that justify the center's rating:
They can also see the impact going to treatment had on patients who responded one year later:
If a patient or family member wishes to learn more, they can click through to the rehab’s website or call their admission line. Searches are done anonymously; Conquer Addiction does not collect information on users of its site.
Launching Today: The Five-Star Addiction Treatment Market
Conquer Addiction is further increasing rehab accountability by launching the Five Star Addiction Treatment Market today. Centers with verified success rates above 40% have been invited to define one or more episodes of treatment they’ll provide for an all-inclusive cash price, such as this Brighton Recovery Center offer:
What makes the Five Star market so novel is that to join, the centers must promise to cover the entire treatment cost of a second episode of treatment for any patients who relapse within 90 days of completing their program!
The Five Star Addiction Treatment Market is launching with ten centers in four states. In addition to families, we anticipate that employers and labor unions looking for high-quality, high-value treatment will use the Market. We plan to expand the market to hundreds of centers by late 2025 by using claims and death registry data to identify other highly-effective addiction treatment centers across the U.S. This research will also allow us to publicly recognize payers whose members have high recovery rates.
How Individuals Struggling with Addiction Will Benefit
Stay Informed!
Sign up to receive updates on the Moonshot's progress here:
If you share our commitment to helping dramatically more patients recover from addiction, we need your help! Please email info@conquer-addiction.org to share your thoughts and suggestions about the Moonshot or offer to join our Advisory Group. And if you can support the project financially, please donate now. Thank you very much for your support!
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