|
A couple of weeks ago I was astounded to hear the reaction of
Tom McLellan, arguably the nation’s most eminent expert in the
field of addiction, to Treatment Magazine after reading our first
two issues that I had just sent him. “I didn’t know any of this,” he
exclaimed. “I just didn’t know any of this!”
Naturally, I was very pleased that Treatment Magazine could ever
teach a guy like Tom McLellan something about the addiction
treatment industry. But after I had gotten over feeling good about
myself, I was more troubled than anything else. I realized we had
been able to teach McLellan something from our first two issues
because both had been almost entirely focused on the private side of
the treatment business, something McLellan admitted to me
sheepishly that he knew next to nothing about, having focused his
career on the publicly funded side of the business.
Here was another example, the most glaring certainly so far, of
something that we at Treatment Magazine have been monitoring
with growing concern, which is that there appears to be a very wide
and apparently ever growing chasm between the private side of
treatment business and the side of the business that is supported
primarily by public funding.
We began to get an inkling that there were two sides to this
business, and never the two shall speak, when Treatment Magazine
became involved in the launching and organizing of the Naatp
CEO Summits, a series of we are very proud to say successful
summits held across the nation sponsored by The Van Wagner
Group, the nation’s leading addiction industry insurance agency, the
National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, Naatp, the
leading industry organization representing the private side of the
treatment business, and Treatment Magazine. While we were organizing
the Chicago CEO Summit, it came to the attention of a Naatp
member that we had invited executives from Haymarket House, a
nationally known facility founded by the renowned Father
McDermott that relies almost exclusively on public funding. “You
don’t want to invite them,” said the Naatp member. “They don’t
mix well with us.” Naturally, we ignored the absurd suggestion
and went ahead and invited Haymarket anyway. It didn’t matter,
though, because in the end our public/private bridge building efforts
came to naught. Haymarket didn’t show up.
It wouldn’t matter if the pubic and private side of the business
didn’t talk to each other if it weren’t for the enormous public policy
goals that the two share, goals that have seen relatively little
progress in coming to fruition over the past three decades. That the
failure of this industry to advance its public policy agenda can be
laid at the doorstep of its high degree of fragmentation, as well as
the failure of its bewildering array of industry organizations to get
together on areas of common interest, there can be little doubt.
After all, how close are to we to achieving the industry’s public
policy Holy Grail of parity? We aren’t close at all.
In the end, for sake of the still suffering alcoholic and addict,
can’t we all be friends and advance our common agenda together?
 |
Publisher's Note 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
