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American Society of Addiction Medicine Reveals New Study

Posted in Addiction, health, healthcare, News, Sober Living, Staying sober on May 10, 2015

Recently, the American Society of Addiction Medicine has released a report in efforts to improve medical practices regarding addiction. The work titled “Performance Measures for the Addiction Specialist Physician”, focuses on nine crucial ways to put emphasis on health-care for those with addiction issues.

Dr. Stuart Gitlow, President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, explains that, “one driver behind the need for standards of care and performance measures for addiction specialist physicians is the epidemic of prescription drug use and addiction involving heroin and prescription painkillers and the need for specialty consultation.”

Currently, about 1 in 10 Americans are suffering from addiction and the effects that come from dealing with such a problem. This is one of the main motivating factors for investing in more research that could help find a solution to this ever-growing problem within the nation.

Creating nine ways of measuring performance when dealing with medical assistance for addiction, is all a part of a greater plan that the American Society of Addiction Medicine has in store.

Chair of the Performance Measures Expert Panel, Dr. Corey Waller, states that, “ASAM will continue to work toward assuring that the measures are broadly accepted and adopted in the treatment of patients with addiction. This will encourage physicians to make significant improvements in the quality of patient care for the addiction field.”

The overall project is part of a bigger plan that will ultimately regulate how addiction is handled by medical providers throughout the United States.