Two statewide surveys of addiction
treatment providers in New York State: one
of 83 program directors and one of 141 staff
treatment providers (see Appendices D and
E for survey instruments);
A national panel of treatment providers and
an online survey of 1,142 members of
professional associations involved in
addiction care (see Appendix F for a list of
panel members and for the survey
instrument); An online survey of 360 individuals with a
history of addiction who are managing the
disease (i.e., in “long-term recovery”) (see
Appendix G for the survey instrument);
An in-depth analysis of state, federal and
professional associations’ licensing and
certification requirements for individual
treatment providers and addiction treatment
facilities and programs, as well as
accreditation requirements for facilities and
programs; and
A case study of addiction treatment in New
York State and New York City that drew
from the research described above and the
findings of which are incorporated into the
report where relevant.
Literature Review
CASA Columbia research staff identified and
reviewed more than 7,000 scientific articles,
reports, books and other reference materials.
Analysis of National Data Sets
CASA Columbia’s Substance Abuse Data
Analysis Center (SADACSM) conducted
extensive analyses of the following five national
data sets:
National Survey on Drug Use and Health
(NSDUH);
Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS);
National Survey of Substance Abuse
Treatment Services (N-SSATS); Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN);
and Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).National Survey on Drug Use and Health
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health
(NSDUH), administered by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services’ Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), is a cross-sectional
national survey of approximately 70,000 (per
year) randomly selected non-institutionalized
individuals ages 12 and older in the United
States. Because of changes made in survey
methodology, time series data are available only
from 2002.The NSDUH is known to underestimate
considerably the rate of substance use,
particularly among young people, because it is
administered in the home where a parent or
other adult is present, increasing the risk that
respondents will under-report substance use and
other high-risk or illegal activities.^1 The
NSDUH also does not include high-risk
institutionalized populations, such as prison
inmates, hospital patients, patients in residential
addiction treatment and others who cannot be
reached in a home (e.g., the homeless), who tend
to engage in substance use at higher rates than
non-institutionalized populations.^2For each type of addictive substance, the
NSDUH provides data on lifetime use, current
use, frequency patterns, past-month diagnosis of
nicotine addiction and past-year diagnosis of
alcohol or other drug addiction. Data related to
determining whether a respondent met clinical
criteria for a past-year addiction diagnosis
involving alcohol, controlled prescription drugs
or illicit drugs correspond to the diagnostic
criteria for alcohol or other drug abuse or
dependence presented in the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th
edition (DSM-IV).^3 Data related to determining