….Part of the challenge, scientists say, is that addiction, like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, is a chronic condition; it changes the chemistry of the brain.
But thereâ??s another hurdle thatâ??s getting attention: treatment programs, with their voice-mail systems and multiple forms to fill out, arenâ??t very patient-friendly, especially to people whose lives present many barriers to staying in treatment.
A national program, based at UW-Madison, is trying to change that by bringing process improvements to drug treatment. The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment, or NIATx, attempts to get addicts into treatment quicker and retain more of them by making the programs more appealing.