SBIRT in emergency care settings: are we ready to take it to scale?

Abstract

This article summarizes a panel discussion on "SBIRT in the emergency care setting: are we ready to take it to scale?" Dr. Edward Bernstein commented on the historical developments of emergency department (ED) screening, brief intervention (BI), and referral to treatment (SBIRT) research, practice, and knowledge translation. Dr. Jack Stein addressed SBIRT grant program progress to date, the reimbursement stream, SBIRT lessons learned, and unanswered questions. Dr. Richard Saitz reviewed the limitations of the evidence for alcohol and drug ED screening and BI and cautioned on the danger of proceeding to practice and broad dissemination without evidenced based on randomized controlled trials with sufficient sample size and clinically important outcomes.