Governor's Press Office Monthly Report

Every month for the past several years, the Governor's Press Office has requested a report detailing "Accomplishments" that have an impact on the citizens of Maryland from that month, and "Good News" (PR type events, openings, conferences, etc.) for the upcoming month. The purpose being to inform the Governor of all of the good things that are happening across the state, and to let him know about events he may want to try to attend. We would like to share these reports with you, and encourage you to let us know of any significant "Accomplishments" and "Good News" in your local jurisdictions that we could include in our report to share with the Governor.

Section 1 – Key accomplishments and actions items from this month including issues/items on which action has been taken.

Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC) related accomplishments:

• ADAA has just announced a significant re-organization of its internal divisions and functions consistent with the first Objective in Goal 3: Guide the transformation to a Recovery Oriented System of Care in Maryland of the ROSC Implementation Plan. The first Objective was to: Create senior staff level authority and accountability for the transformation process within ADAA. This has now been accomplished, and interviews for this position are in process.

• The ROSC steering committee has developed the scope of services for an RFP for a Recovery Community Organization.

• A Peer Recovery Support Service Workgroup has been developed and was tasked with developing standards and training curricula for peer support job roles throughout the State.

Maryland Strategic Prevention Framework (MSPF) related accomplishments:

• Provision of MSPF Training to 6 jurisdictions' MSPF planning teams (Baltimore City, Prince George's, St, Mary's, Anne Arundel, Allegany and Cecil Counties) to assist them to develop their local MSPF prevention strategies

• Convened training by the Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technology (CAPT) for MSPF Advisory Committee and work group members on Infusing Cultural Competence and Implementing Evidence Based Prevention Strategies

On January 28, 2011, the ADAA Medical Director will be co-presented a Capacity-Building Workshop on Assessment and Referral Training for Adolescent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Providers in Baltimore. This all day event is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute.

Section 2 - Good news issues for next month and expected action on those issues.

• The ROSC Learning Collaborative, which is the primary method for facilitating the implementation process in each jurisdiction and consists of Jurisdictional Coordinators or their designees who will serve as county ROSC coordinators, are planning a trip in February to Philadelphia to visit ROSC oriented system and programs.

Cambridge Workshop

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FY 2010 Admissions

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Suspension Rates

Thank You Ma'am

I had only been working at the ADAA for about three months when I was sent out with a group to meet with a provider to address their concerns about reporting data.  This was right in the middle of the big push to get every provider, funded and non-funded, reporting data on the same system.  Despite only being at the ADAA for a few months, I had already experienced the ETL (Extraction, Transformation, and Loading) headache caused by the hodgepodge of data reporting tools and formats throughout the state. Therefore, standardizing the way providers reported their data was very exciting to me.  I was happy to market this standardization.  The trainer gave a quick demo of the application; the SAMIS Analyst went over the setup options based on the agency’s business practices; and I chimed in here and there with comments on how the application will make the management of the data more efficient and effective.  Immediately following one of my plugs, one of the counselors looked directly at me and asked, “How will reporting our data to you benefit our patients?”

I had no idea how to respond.  I just kind of mumbled and fumbled with my words trying to scoop up the biggest shovelful I could.

This question had an immediate and profound impact on me.   It was such an eye and mind opener.  I took this job with no experience, knowledge, or interest at all in the substance-abuse field.  To me, it was an IT job, no different than if I had gone to work for the IT department of some retail company. This question immediately changed that. I realized that nearly every decision made at the ADAA in some way needs to be made with that one question in the back of our minds, “How will this benefit substance-abuse patients?” 

Seeing an application or database that you developed in use, and of use, is pretty gratifying in itself, but the knowledge that your work somehow impacts the effectiveness of an individual’s treatment is a new level of gratification.

If that counselor were to ask me that same question today, I think I would be able to answer her:  The direction in which research drives substance-abuse treatment should be based on as accurate, complete, and current data as possible.  The treatment environment and the resources and innovations available to you and your patients are highly dependent on what the data say.

Treatment Gap

Maryland and Mid-Atlantic States Substance-Abuse Treatment Admissions