Driving Under the Influence Program
|
|
Assessment Questions
Click on a question below to reveal or hide its answer.
- Q.
- What percentage of assessments is referred to programs provided by the assessing agency?
- A.
- According to data compiled from program reviews conducted by the Division of Behavioral Health (DBH), approximately 95 percent of clients assessed in certified DUI programs are referred to a service or level of care offered by the agency that conducted the client's assessment.
- Q.
- What are the options for a client who has been assessed as inappropriate for class or group due to medical problems such as active cancer chemotherapy, chronic pain or disability that make being seated for an hour difficult?
- A.
- Administrative regulation 908 KAR 1:310 Section 8(2)(b)1 states: "A treatment plan shall be developed with a client's participation and be individualized for the needs of the client."
If a client has a physical or medical condition that presents a barrier to the client's successful participation in a substance abuse program, then there is no question that the condition must be taken into consideration in the development of a treatment plan. A client's treatment and referral options will vary, depending on the nature of the condition.
If the clinical medical problem is of short duration, a client's education and treatment could be postponed until the medical problem has been resolved. If the medical problem is chronic and requires long-term treatment, a client's treatment plan could include appropriate referrals to other community specialists, and the treatment plan developed by the certified DUI program would be individualized to accommodate all of the client's needs.
If the medical problem is a physical condition that is terminal or a mental condition that either excludes a client from, or makes it impossible for a client to participate in, the substance abuse program, then the court should be notified and provided with documentation. The court then can make a decision about the person involved in a particular case, based on the information provided. It is the role of the court to make a determination of the consequences, including any additional sanctions that may need to be applied. - Q.
- Do the data suggest that assessors are primarily and predominantly "underreferring" or self-referring? That is, are assessors clinically not referring a client to the level of need but referring to the level that the assessing agency offers?
- A.
- Data received by DBH from the Center on Drug and Alcohol research at the University of Kentucky from 8,699 client records downloaded by certified DUI programs for persons who were assessed between October 2000 and December 2001 is shown in the table below. Many variables must be considered in determining the appropriateness of a client referral, so this data would have to be reviewed further before DBH could say that IOP and residential referrals are underutilized by assessors in certified DUI programs.
Total offenders assessed | 8,699 | First Offenders | 6,930 | Multiple Offenders | 818 | Missing Data | 951 | Intervention Referrals: | 20-Hour Education | 4,825 | Outpatient Treatment | 1,727 | Intensive Outpatient Treatment | 82 | Residential Treatment | 110 | Education and Treatment | 435 | Missing Data | 1,520 |
- Q.
- What is DBH's stance regarding free or extremely low-cost assessments to generate client assessments and then self referral?
- A.
- DBH received a legal opinion stating that there is no reason why a certified DUI program cannot deliver a service free of charge. We have been told that this is pro bono work. A certified DUI program providing free assessments becomes a problem when the program offers free assessments and then inflates the fee for education or treatment services, or creates hidden fees such as a referral fee or a fee to "open a file fee", to make up the difference.
A certified DUI program cannot charge a client a fee unless it is on a fee schedule that is published in the DUI directory and the client has signed a fee agreement. This is in accordance with administrative regulation 908 KAR 1:310 Section 3(8)(b)(e). Since a certified DUI program is not allowed to charge a client a fee that is not listed in a fee schedule that is published in the DUI directory, the practice of offering free assessments and then charging a client an inflated or hidden fee is clearly wrong and not only a violation of 908 KAR 1:310, but is also a potentially criminal activity and a violation of the Consumer Protection Act, KRS 367.110 to 367.300.
|