ONDCP Excel Thirty-Sixth Row

Because of its broad stakeholder representation and formal consensus development process, NQF-endorsed policies are referenced in many States’   laws as “voluntary consensus standards.” In 2007, NQF issued a set of National Voluntary Consensus Standards for the Treatment of Substance Use Conditions. These comprise 11 evidence-based practices organized into 4 major domains: (1) identification of substance use conditions, (2) initiation and engagement in treatment, (3) therapeutic interventions to treat substance use illness, and (4) continuing care management of substance use illness. Efforts are now underway to disseminate and adopt these standards nationwide to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of substance use disorder treatment by assuring consistent implementation of proven clinical, administrative, and organizational practices. ONDCP, through its Health Care Delivery Workgroup, will collaborate with the leadership of key agencies to promote: (1) adoption of the full set of practices in the public and private sectors; (2) policy development, including alignment of payment/reimbursement and coverage and legal and regulatory policies; (3) development and implementation of measures based on each of the standards, their specifications, and target outcomes; and (4) continuing research to improve standards so they do not become static.