Barriers to Providing Health Services for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Substance Abuse Treatment Programs in the United States

ABSTRACT

We sought to identify barriers to offering services for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C virus, and sexually transmitted infections in substance abuse treatment programs. We surveyed treatment program administrators and clinicians within the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network to evaluate the availability of medical and non-medical services for patients with or at risk for acquiring these infections. A substantial proportion of programs do not offer services (particularly medical services) for these infections. The most commonly cited barriers were funding, health insurance benefits, patient acceptance, and staff training. The findings highlight a missed opportunity to positively impact these infectious disease epidemics.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS
• hepatitis C virus
• sexually transmitted infections
• drug abuse
• barriers

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of a cooperative agreement with the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (2U10DA13046). The authors appreciated the efforts of administrators, clinicians, and investigators from the universities, medical centers, and community treatment programs within the 17 nodes of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (NIDA CTN).