In January, the Mental Health and Substance Use Care Work Group sent a draft of its Detox Protocol Guide to local providers for recommendations. The group had been working on this guide since August 2011 with the goal to assess community treatment capacity (e.g., assessment, detox, residential treatment, and recovery services) to ultimately guide the development of a county-wide detox protocol for those who would benefit from medically supported detox services. The guide included a decision tree for detox protocol and a list of community resources. The workgroup hoped this protocol would facilitate “clinically appropriate same-day assessments for patients and medically supported detox treatment and recovery services delivered by qualified providers and coordinated through a community-based medical home.”
