Alcohol and Substance Use Disorder

Alcohol and drug problems affect more than 20 million people in the United States. Beacon Health Options (Beacon) is committed to the early identification and treatment of alcohol and other drug use disorders to promote optimal health for its members. To that help with that goal, we want to work with providers to identify all members with alcohol and other drug disorders and to increase the number of those members identified who get access to the SUD services they need. 

Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®)¹ Tip Sheets

• Follow-up after ED Visit for Alcohol/ Drug Abuse or Dependence
• Follow-up After High Intensity Care for Substance Abuse Disorder
• Use of Opioids at High Dosages
• Initiation and Engagement of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse or Dependence
• Pharmacotherapy for Opioid Use Disorder
• Use of Opioids from Multiple Providers

Member Materials

• Do I Have Substance Use Disorder?
• Alcohol Use Questionnaire
• Do You Have a Problem With Pain Medications?

Screening Tools

• Screening for Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
• CRAFFT Provider
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Pocket Guide for Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention
• AUDIT-PC Screening Tool
• Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol Scale (CIWA-Ar)
• The Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS)

  The Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS) has good validity among medically ill hospitalized patients, helping clinicians identify those at risk for complicated alcohol withdrawal syndromes, such as seizures or delirium tremens (DT); it is not a measure of current withdrawal intensity. The PAWSS is copyrighted, but the author has authorized Beacon to post as a clinical and/or research resource. Authorization to use for any other purpose would require permission from Dr. Maldonado.

  Reference:
  Maldonado, J. R., Y. Sher, S. Das, K. Hills-Evans, A. Frenklach, S. Lolak, R. Talley and E. Neri (2015). “Prospective Validation Study of the Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS) in Medically Ill Inpatients: A New Scale for the Prediction of Complicated Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome.” Alcohol and Alcoholism 50(5): 509-518.

¹ HEDIS is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).