Baltimore Health Department to track data on drug treatment availability (Baltimore Sun)

Wednesday Mar 7th, 2018

The Baltimore Health Department is working to design a system to monitor how many drug treatment slots are available in the city at any moment, a plan that officials say should make it easier to get help for addiction patients.

Dr. Leana Wen, the city’s health commissioner, said that in recent months officials started making phone calls and filling out a spreadsheet to track treatment availability on a weekly basis, but they want more comprehensive data.

Addiction experts say it’s important to get people into treatment the moment they’re ready — even short delays can result in relapses or overdoses.

Wen said she worries that an emergency-room doctor might call a few providers they know and not be able to find a slot even though help was available elsewhere.

“What keeps me up at night is that that kind of missed connection might be occurring,” she said.

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