Screening and Brief Intervention
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Screening and Brief Intervention
The impact of hazardous alcohol and substance use is far reaching and has significant medical, social, and financial consequences. The traditional emphasis of substance abuse intervention has been placed on either universal prevention strategies aimed at those who have never initiated use, or specialist treatment for those who are dependent. Little attention has been paid to the large group of individuals who use alcohol or drugs but are not yet dependent and who could successfully reduce their use through early intervention.
The State of California recommends that health care professionals within the community screen and provide a brief intervention for at-risk substance use in the same way they provide for other health-related issues, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Screening and brief intervention has been shown to be effective in reducing problematic alcohol consumption and/or drug use in a significant number of individuals. Easy to use screening tools help identify persons that may benefit from a brief intervention. Information about risks is conveyed in a nonjudgmental way, and persons at-risk for alcohol or other drug abuse receive a brief motivational and/or skills-based intervention to assist her/him in reducing their use, and in so doing, reduce the risk of harm that may result to themselves, their families or their communities.
- SAMHSA - Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration
- Treatment Improvement Protocols Series (TIPS) – Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
- Ensuring Solutions for Alcohol Problems
- Federal Health Plan Now Covers SBI
- New CPT and Medicare Codes for Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI)
- Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician's Guide
- NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking
- SBIRT Curriculum adapted from the NIAAA Alcohol Education Project
- Brief Intervention for Hazardous and Harmful Drinking
- Motivational Enhancement Therapy with Drug Abusers 1995
General Information
The Federal Government’s SBIRT site houses links to online resources and curricula, such as “Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) for Trauma Patients,” and summarizes progress by its SBIRT grantees.
Best practice guidelines for the treatment of substance abuse. TIP 34: Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance Abuse and TIP 35: Enhancing Motivation for Change. Other TIPS specialty topics include screening of trauma patients (TIP 16) and adolescents (TIP 31, TIP 32).
This excellent site from George Washington University Medical Center provides a wealth of accessible information on screening and brief intervention. Look under “resources” to find a guide for hospital implementation of SBI and an in-depth SBI reimbursement guide.
In the News
Doctors providing SBI for any of the 5.6 million federal workers in the FEHB program will be reimbursed using a pair of new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes from the AMA.
Four new billing codes for SBI, two in the 2008 CPT manual (99408 and 99409), and two for Medicare (G0396 and G0397), join the SBI Medicaid codes H0049 and H0050 that were announced last year.
Tools and Training
A 34 page guide with optional video clips, pocket guide, forms for screening and assessment, formal presentation materials, and patient handouts.
SBIRT curriculum developed for college health care providers to help identify and treat students who are at-risk or have alcohol-related problems; includes a brief intervention workbook.
A short slide based training curriculum for providers in the emergency department from Boston University School of Public Health & Boston Medical Center.
Primary care physicians, nurses, community health workers and others can help people whose alcohol consumption has become hazardous or harmful to their health. This manual describes how to conduct brief interventions.
This guide describes motivational strategies that clinicians can use to help mobilize the client’s own resources for change. William R. Miller, 66 pp.