Physicians in the substance abuse treatment workforce: Understanding their employment within publicly funded treatment organizations

Hannah K. Knudsen; Carrie B. Oser; Amanda J. Abraham; Paul M. Roman

doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2011.12.003

Physicians in the substance abuse treatment workforce: Understanding their employment within publicly funded treatment organizations

Hannah K. Knudsen, Carrie B. Oser, Amanda J. Abraham, Paul M. Roman

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The employment of physicians by substance abuse treatment organizations is understudied, despite physicians' importance in implementing pharmacotherapy and integrating treatment into the broader system of medical care. Drawing on data collected from 249 publicly funded treatment organizations, this study examined organizational and environmental factors associated with the employment of physicians in these settings. A negative binomial regression model indicated that greater numbers of physicians were employed when organizations offered detoxification services, were embedded in health care settings, and were larger in size. Funding barriers, including the costs of physicians and inadequate reimbursement by funders, were negatively associated with physician employment. Programs unaware that they could use state contract funding to pay for medical staff employed fewer numbers of physicians than programs aware of this type of state policy. Attempts to increase physician employment in substance abuse treatment may require attention to both organizational and environmental factors rather than simply trying to attract individuals to the field. Increasing physician employment may be challenging in the current economic climate.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	152-160
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Volume	43
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2011.12.003
State	Published - Sep 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge research support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (Grant 65111 , PI: Dr. Hannah Knudsen), which supported data collection and article development. The sample of treatment programs was originally constructed through research support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( R01DA014482 , PI: Dr. Paul M. Roman, University of Georgia). Dr. Carrie Oser received additional support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( K01DA021309 ). These sources of funding did not influence the design or conduct of the study, nor the interpretation of the data. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not intended to reflect the official positions of the funding agencies.

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge research support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (Grant 65111 , PI: Dr. Hannah Knudsen), which supported data collection and article development. The sample of treatment programs was originally constructed through research support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( R01DA014482 , PI: Dr. Paul M. Roman, University of Georgia). Dr. Carrie Oser received additional support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( K01DA021309 ). These sources of funding did not influence the design or conduct of the study, nor the interpretation of the data. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not intended to reflect the official positions of the funding agencies.

Funders	Funder number
National Institute on Drug Abuse	K01DA021309, R01DA014482
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation	65111

Keywords

Physicians
Resource dependence theory
Specialty substance abuse treatment
Staffing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Psychiatric Mental Health
Medicine (miscellaneous)
Clinical Psychology
Psychiatry and Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jsat.2011.12.003

Cite this

@article{e3cd8288424841a79a21d8eb8fcda3b2,

title = "Physicians in the substance abuse treatment workforce: Understanding their employment within publicly funded treatment organizations",

abstract = "The employment of physicians by substance abuse treatment organizations is understudied, despite physicians' importance in implementing pharmacotherapy and integrating treatment into the broader system of medical care. Drawing on data collected from 249 publicly funded treatment organizations, this study examined organizational and environmental factors associated with the employment of physicians in these settings. A negative binomial regression model indicated that greater numbers of physicians were employed when organizations offered detoxification services, were embedded in health care settings, and were larger in size. Funding barriers, including the costs of physicians and inadequate reimbursement by funders, were negatively associated with physician employment. Programs unaware that they could use state contract funding to pay for medical staff employed fewer numbers of physicians than programs aware of this type of state policy. Attempts to increase physician employment in substance abuse treatment may require attention to both organizational and environmental factors rather than simply trying to attract individuals to the field. Increasing physician employment may be challenging in the current economic climate.",

keywords = "Physicians, Resource dependence theory, Specialty substance abuse treatment, Staffing",

author = "Knudsen, {Hannah K.} and Oser, {Carrie B.} and Abraham, {Amanda J.} and Roman, {Paul M.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge research support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (Grant 65111 , PI: Dr. Hannah Knudsen), which supported data collection and article development. The sample of treatment programs was originally constructed through research support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( R01DA014482 , PI: Dr. Paul M. Roman, University of Georgia). Dr. Carrie Oser received additional support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( K01DA021309 ). These sources of funding did not influence the design or conduct of the study, nor the interpretation of the data. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not intended to reflect the official positions of the funding agencies.",

year = "2012",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1016/j.jsat.2011.12.003",

language = "English",

volume = "43",

pages = "152--160",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Physicians in the substance abuse treatment workforce

T2 - Understanding their employment within publicly funded treatment organizations

AU - Knudsen, Hannah K.

AU - Oser, Carrie B.

AU - Abraham, Amanda J.

AU - Roman, Paul M.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge research support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (Grant 65111 , PI: Dr. Hannah Knudsen), which supported data collection and article development. The sample of treatment programs was originally constructed through research support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( R01DA014482 , PI: Dr. Paul M. Roman, University of Georgia). Dr. Carrie Oser received additional support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( K01DA021309 ). These sources of funding did not influence the design or conduct of the study, nor the interpretation of the data. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not intended to reflect the official positions of the funding agencies.

PY - 2012/9

Y1 - 2012/9

N2 - The employment of physicians by substance abuse treatment organizations is understudied, despite physicians' importance in implementing pharmacotherapy and integrating treatment into the broader system of medical care. Drawing on data collected from 249 publicly funded treatment organizations, this study examined organizational and environmental factors associated with the employment of physicians in these settings. A negative binomial regression model indicated that greater numbers of physicians were employed when organizations offered detoxification services, were embedded in health care settings, and were larger in size. Funding barriers, including the costs of physicians and inadequate reimbursement by funders, were negatively associated with physician employment. Programs unaware that they could use state contract funding to pay for medical staff employed fewer numbers of physicians than programs aware of this type of state policy. Attempts to increase physician employment in substance abuse treatment may require attention to both organizational and environmental factors rather than simply trying to attract individuals to the field. Increasing physician employment may be challenging in the current economic climate.

AB - The employment of physicians by substance abuse treatment organizations is understudied, despite physicians' importance in implementing pharmacotherapy and integrating treatment into the broader system of medical care. Drawing on data collected from 249 publicly funded treatment organizations, this study examined organizational and environmental factors associated with the employment of physicians in these settings. A negative binomial regression model indicated that greater numbers of physicians were employed when organizations offered detoxification services, were embedded in health care settings, and were larger in size. Funding barriers, including the costs of physicians and inadequate reimbursement by funders, were negatively associated with physician employment. Programs unaware that they could use state contract funding to pay for medical staff employed fewer numbers of physicians than programs aware of this type of state policy. Attempts to increase physician employment in substance abuse treatment may require attention to both organizational and environmental factors rather than simply trying to attract individuals to the field. Increasing physician employment may be challenging in the current economic climate.

KW - Physicians

KW - Resource dependence theory

KW - Specialty substance abuse treatment

KW - Staffing

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864300054&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84864300054&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jsat.2011.12.003

DO - 10.1016/j.jsat.2011.12.003

M3 - Article

C2 - 22301083

AN - SCOPUS:84864300054

SN - 0740-5472

VL - 43

SP - 152

EP - 160

JO - Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

JF - Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

IS - 2

ER -

Physicians in the substance abuse treatment workforce: Understanding their employment within publicly funded treatment organizations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this