Identifying Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders Using an SBIRT Model: Washington State's Experience

Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based, universal public health approach used in a many healthcare settings to identify, prevent, and reduce substance use disorders (SUDs). The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) received a five-year federal grant to implement SBIRT in select health care settings from 2011 to 2016. During this time, WASBIRT-PCI successfully screened 75,635 unique patients, 31 percent of whom were enrolled in Medicaid. This report describes the prevalence of at-risk substance use and mental health disorders among the Medicaid and non-Medicaid patients screened under the program.