Braided Strategies
Weaving together normally separate services to increase revenue
and become the resource your patients need.
People with substance use disorders (SUDs) are not their diagnoses.
They have needs that go well beyond substance abuse treatment—ranging from health screening/testing
to parenting/family reunification support, to re-entry planning and vocational support, and many others.
How do you efficiently meet these varying needs with limited resources?
Become a One-Stop Shop with Braided Strategies
Using braided strategies, the NIATx Foundation can help you:
- Increase revenue by expanding services.
- Develop process efficiencies to maximize resources.
- Keep your doors open.
- Become the resource your patients need.
Situation
The Need Is Real...
An NCBH survey of 3,000 mental health and addiction treatment providers found 54% have closed programs, and 65% have had to turn away patients. (Yahoo Quartz Daily Brief, September 2020)
An NAATP survey of 165 centers further found that 43% had to reduce patient capacity, nearly a third saw a decrease in patient retention, and 10% had to shut down because of the pandemic. (NY Times, January 2021)
Clinical care is greatly impacted—even defined—by the siloes and rules created by payers, providers, and regulators. Most service providers fully acknowledge this is a weakness of our current treatment system, but the pull to provide siloed, segmented care can be very difficult to overcome, particularly given resource and staffing constraints.
The need for more efficient strategies that simultaneously address patients’ diverse concerns and increase organizational revenue is real—and more important than ever as addiction and mental health epidemics continue to grow.
Braiding brings together those services that have previously been separate due to reimbursement rules, customary medical conventions, or health system design. This approach allows providers to be more effective, efficient, and sustainable in providing care that addresses needs beyond SUD treatment, while also supporting organizational goals.
Braided Strategies
The following case studies demonstrate how braided strategies work in practice.
Providing the COVID Vaccine
Patients were coming to Main Street Addiction Recovery Center unvaccinated and uncertain about getting the COVID vaccine. However, news about filling emergency rooms and spread of the Delta variant has caused growing concern. In addition, the Recovery Center is working to keep their patient population safe and build trust that the facility is a protective environment to receive care. To create this safer environment and offer patients an important public health service, Main Street Addiction Recovery Center decided to commence the braided strategy of administering COVID vaccines. Read more...
Testing for HIV/HCV
Patients were walking into the Northeast Recovery Center with symptoms of fevers and joint or stomach pain. Over time, the Center often learned that the patients were having symptoms of HIV or HCV (Hepatitis C). The diminishing health of these patients was very concerning to the Recovery Center, especially as they witnessed how these health conditions impact the individual’s treatment recovery. As a health services provider, Northeast Recovery felt they had an obligation to address these diseases linked to substance misuse. Read more...
Providing Buprenorphine in the Emergency Department
The local Emergency Department (ED) is continually calling the Main Street Recovery Center for assistance with overdose patients and currently provides referrals to the Center without any coordination of services. Main Street Recovery wanted to directly address this issue, as did the local ED. ED and Main Street decided to have the ED induct eligible patients wanting to begin Suboxone therapy and then provide three-day Suboxone starter kits. Read more...
