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Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap

Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap is a national program funded by The Open Society Institute that aims to address the treatment gap that exists for addiction services. Research suggests that only one out of five individuals who need treatment for a substance use problem are able to get it. Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap attempts to increase public support for improved access to addiction treatment services by addressing the following three key issues:

  • Insurance: Addiction diagnoses and treatment should be recognized as a health/medical condition covered by specific benefits in all existing and future public, semi-public, and private health plans
  • Appropriations: The expansion of public and private appropriations to pay for treatment at all levels until universal health plan coverage reduces the need for special categorical funding
  • Efficiency: The engagement, integration, and retention of individuals into treatment more quickly as a critical means of using existing resources more effectively

Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap attempts to mobilize public support for increased addiction services through the use of a comprehensive communications strategy that includes education and advocacy on a variety of substance abuse issues. This strategy also includes the dissemination of information on best practices and model programs deigned to address the treatment gaps from their current eight grant sites.

For more information on Closing the Addiction Gap, and their current grantees, see the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap website at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/treatmentgap