Summary: The federal governments spends hundreds of millions of dollars on drug abuse treatment through the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant program. Although the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) monitors state expenditures to determine whether block grant funds are used in accordance with statutory requirements, this type of monitoring is not designed to determine what impact state drug abuse treatment programs are having on the lives of clients. Some states are assessing the effectiveness of their treatment programs by using outcome indicators. SAMHSA officials believe that collecting uniform data on client outcomes at the state level is essential to determine the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment programs supported with federal money and to report the information to Congress. SAMHSA is trying to determine the availability of client outcome data from all states, and it has awarded grants to some states to help them improve their data collection systems. These efforts should help identify states' views on and some of the complexities associated with collecting and reporting outcome data. SAMHSA's efforts should help determine what additional actions are needed to get uniform reporting on the results of drug abuse treatment programs supported by the block grant program. This testimony summarizes the February 2000 report, GAO/HEHS-00-50.
