Information on NIATx

Every year, more than 20 million Americans need substance abuse treatment but less than 10 percent get into treatment. Of this 10 percent, less than half show up for their appointments. This disparity adversely affects individuals, families, and society as a whole. In financial terms alone, addiction-related illnesses cost more than $400 billion per year.

NIATx is a partnership between The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Paths to Recovery program, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Strengthening Treatment Access and Retention  program, and a number of independent treatment organizations. NIATx helps behavioral health providers improve access to and retention in treatment for all of their clients primarily by helping treatment providers use process improvement methods to achieve the four aims:

    * Reduce waiting times

    * Reduce no-shows

    * Increase admissions

    * Increase continuation in treatment

The “walk-through” is an essential component of the NIATx model, which is guided by five principles. “The first — and most important — principle is to ‘understand and involve the customer.’  Agencies that have used the NIATx model to improve access to and retention in treatment report dramatic improvements…   With the Opioid Treatment Provider Learning Collaborative [a project to begin in September 2009 until 2010], we’re looking forward to achieving similar results that we can share with the field.” - NIATx Deputy Director Kim Johnson.

For more information, please visit www.niatx.net.