Grant Award to the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut

This notice is to inform the public that CSAT is making available approximately $200,000 for an award in FY 1998 to the University of Connecticut Department of Community Medicine and Health Care to develop knowledge concerning the effectiveness of primary care referral and behavioral health treatment for alcohol dependence in managed care. Eligibility for this program is limited to the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut. Using Robert Wood Johnson funding, the University of Connecticut has already implemented an experimental design research program on the cost effectiveness of alcohol screening and brief intervention in six managed care settings. This cross-site study in managed care settings is unique in its design and scope. However, none of the study settings are testing the cost effectiveness of Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) vs. standard alcoholism treatment. SAMHSA/CSAT, by means of this relatively small investment in this existing University of Connecticut program, will be able to capitalize on this unique opportunity to test the cost effectiveness on different models of alcoholism treatment for primary care vs. non primary care referred patients in managed care settings within the context of the existing Robert Wood Johnson funded study protocol. It is for these reasons, and in order to obtain the benefits of the additional information for the affected provider communities, that only the University of Connecticut is invited to apply. The application will be considered for funding on the basis of its overall technical merit as determined through the peer and CSAT National Advisory Council review processes. Funding from CSAT will support supplemental evaluation activities in three Robert Wood Johnson supported screening and brief intervention (SBI) study sites. These sites will extend their current evaluation studies, to include the following: (l) implement data information systems to track patients who are referred by the primary care practices into treatment; (2) evaluate the cost effectiveness of primary care physician vs. primary care intervention specialist referrals for alcohol dependence and (3) evaluate the cost effectiveness of MET vs. standard treatment for alcohol dependent patients.