Oregon Practice Improvement Collaborative

MISSION

The mission of the Oregon Practice Improvement Collaborative (PIC) is to expand community knowledge about evidence-based treatment and to integrate that knowledge into community-based treatment programs to improve substance abuse treatment. The PIC has three supporting goals: (1) enhance the PIC network to increase mutual knowledge, awareness, and understanding by community-based treatment providers and other stakeholders; (2) conduct practice improvement activities that are responsive to community needs and introduce quality, cost-effective, community-based substance abuse research findings into treatment programs; and (3) provide an effective, continuous evaluation process to guide sustainable PIC activities.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

• Eleven community-based treatment providers
• Five policymakers (Oregon Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs; Department of Corrections, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse; Multnomah County; Governor's Council on Drug/Alcohol Programs; Oregon Youth Authority)
• Seven universities and researchers (Oregon Health & Science University, Portland State University, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, The Oregon Research Institute in Eugene; Chemeketa Community College; RMC Corporation; Care Oregon)
• Northwestern Frontier Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC)
• Four consumer representatives

GOVERNANCE

A 31-member Partnership Council manages the PIC. This decision-making body consists of consumers and senior-level managers and executives from community-based treatment organizations, research and education institutions, and community support organizations in state and local agencies. The Council meets a minimum of three times a year and makes decisions pertaining to funding of practice improvement studies, membership on the Partnership Council, and topics for knowledge adoption and technology transfer activities and gives guidance on management of the PIC. A 13-member Executive Committee meets every other month and handles the operational decisions, including the management of practice improvement projects. The Operations Committee meets a minimum of every 2 weeks to ensure smooth operation of the core activities including the following: Program Support and Network Enhancement Core, Practice Improvement Project Core, and Evaluation Core.

STAKEHOLDER EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT

The Oregon PIC sponsors large and small knowledge transfer forums, addressing topics related to evidence-based research and organizational readiness to change involving providers, researchers, policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders. Two regional workshops per year will be conducted using organizational change principles to address a priority need, e.g., effective treatment for dual diagnosis and use of motivational interviewing. In addition, the PIC is developing a researcher-in-residence program to support ongoing researcher-practitioner collaboration in implementing evidence-based practices. The PIC maintains a listserv for treatment agency directors to disseminate knowledge on evidence-based practices.

PRACTICE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES

• Use of motivational interviewing (MI)
• Computerized systems for screening

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

• Provide onsite consultation to selected treatment programs on implementation of evidence-based practices, using the ATTC Change Book principles
• Develop and test a client self-assessment tracking report that tracks improvements in clinical processes and client change
• Provide training and onsite consultation in use of MI
• Pilot an assessment tool to evaluate the effectiveness of a computerized Addiction Severity Index assessment

EVALUATION ACTIVITIES

• Evaluate the effectiveness of using an organized change strategy to integrate MI into an existing treatment process
• Evaluate the effectiveness of standard training versus training plus onsite consultation approaches in implementing MI in clinical practice
• Assess organizational readiness to implement evidence-based treatment protocols

CONTACT INFORMATION