Resolution calling upon the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services to require that all addiction treatment facilities and programs use evidence-based treatment and make public comprehensive information about which treatment approaches are used and long-term patient outcomes.

Res. No. 15

Resolution calling upon the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services to require that all addiction treatment facilities and programs use evidence-based treatment and make public comprehensive information about which treatment approaches are used and long-term patient outcomes.

By Council Members Borelli, Brannan and Holden

                     Whereas, According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), between 2010 and 2014, rates of unintentional drug overdoses in the city increased by 43%; and

Whereas, According to DOHMH, 79% of overdoses in 2014 involved an opioid; and

Whereas, Opioids, which include opiates (sedative narcotics, such as heroin) and opioid analgesics (prescription medications that relieve pain), are increasingly implicated in unintentional overdose deaths across the city, with Staten Island having the highest rates of all five boroughs of unintentional overdose deaths caused by heroin and opioid analgesics in 2014, according to DOHMH; and

Whereas, Addiction treatment facilities and programs are an increasingly important resource for those who reside in New York City; and

Whereas, The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) is the state agency charged with regulating the state’s system of addiction treatment including administering credentials for alcoholism and substance abuse counselors and ensuring quality of care; and

Whereas, According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, many in the addiction treatment workforce are underqualified when it comes to providing evidence-based treatment approaches, oversight is inadequate, and quality assurance requirements are focused more on process than on patient outcomes; and

Whereas, Individuals and their families currently do not have vital access to information about individual addiction treatment facilities and programs, such as which facilities and programs offer evidence-based treatment and data regarding long-term patient outcomes; and

Whereas, Individuals and their families need to have meaningful statistical information about individual addiction treatment facilities and programs so that they can choose a substance abuse treatment center or program that offers the best quality of care; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services to require that all addiction treatment facilities and programs use evidence-based treatment and make public comprehensive information about which treatment approaches are used and long-term patient outcomes. 

LS #8185/res. 1066-2016

LS#917

12/28/17 12:52PM

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