Women are less likely to be admitted to substance abuse treatment within 30 days of assessment

Abstract

The information gathered in a centralized intake unit (CIU) allows payers and administrators to examine if there are access issues for their population. For this study, the authors examined whether there were gender differences in the rate at which people are admitted to treatment within 30 days of assessment. Of the 5,004 individuals seeking publicly-funded substance abuse treatment in Detroit for the years 1996-97, 50.3% of those assessed at the CIU actually entered treatment. Women (31% of the people assessed) had a lower rate of admission (45% for women versus 53% for men) a difference that was maintained even after controlling for known risk factors. Women who were given priority for admission (i.e., those who were pregnant, had children, or injected drugs) had a higher rate of admission than other women (73% versus 39%), but only 17% of the women presenting were included in the priority groups. Men who were injecting drugs (a priority group) also had a higher rate of admission than other men (83% versus 49%). In multivariate analysis controlling for priority groups and known risk factors, women were still less likely to be admitted to treatment within 30 days of admission than men. Establishing priorities improves the rate of admission within 30 days of assessment for those groups, but more needs to be done to improve the admission rate for women. These results demonstrate that a CIU allows administrators to monitor for access issues.