Patient Centered Assessment and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Study (PCAST)

California counties are in the process of implementing a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services Medicaid 1115 Substance Use Disorder (SUD) demonstration. The demonstration requires
that patients be assigned to addiction treatment settings and levels of care systematically,
using comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments and guided by the American Society of
Addiction Medicine (ASAM) patient placement criteria.

RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, and University of California Los Angeles
(UCLA) Integrated Substance Abuse Programs have been awarded a contract from the Patient
Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study the effects of the ASAM implementation
in California. The California 1115 SUD demonstration provides a unique opportunity to learn
about the benefits and challenges resulting from system-wide implementation of ASAM criteria.

The study will involve surveying patients in counties that are using the ASAM criteria and in
counties that have not yet adopted the ASAM criteria. Medicaid patients receiving addiction
treatment will be offered the opportunity participate in the study and to be surveyed about
their experiences in treatment. The study will also analyze data from the California Outcomes
Management System (CalOMS) and conduct interviews with providers, patients, and policymakers
in the state. The results of the study will help inform California's efforts to continually
improve its addiction treatment systems to better meet the needs of it communities. This
study will also produce important and useful information to patients seeking treatment for
addiction, and their providers, SUD system administrators, and payers.