Alignment of Substance Use Community Benefit Prioritization and Service Lines in US Hospitals.

Objective. To assess the relationship between a hospital's prioritization of substance use within their community benefit documents and its offerings of substance use services in its clinical setting. Data Sources and Study Setting. This study of a national sample of U.S. hospitals utilizes secondary data sourced from the 2021 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey and data collected from publicly available Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) and Implementation Strategies (ISs) produced by hospitals between the years 2018-2021. Study Design. This cross-sectional study employs descriptive statistics and multivariable analysis to assess relationships between prioritization of substance use on hospital ISs and the services offered by hospitals, with consideration of community and hospital characteristics. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. Hospital CHNA and IS documents were collected by research team members from hospital websites or by contacting hospitals directly and were then coded to identify whether the substance use needs were prioritized by the hospital. The collected data were incorporated into a data set along with the secondary data sourced from the 2021 AHA Annual Survey. Principal Findings. Multivariable analysis found a significant and positive relationship between the prioritization of substance use as a community need on a hospital's implementation plan and the number of the services included in this analysis offered by the hospital. Significant and positive relationships were also identified for five of the six specific service categories assessed, as well as for hospital size. . Conclusions.The availability of service offerings is related both to a hospital's prioritization of substance use as a community need and to its size, indicating that these factors are likely all inter-related in regard to a hospital's sense of its ability to address substance use as a community need. . Policymakers should be attuned to why hospitals may not prioritize a need prevalent within their community, such as whether the organization feels like it lacks the resources or infrastructure to take such steps. This study also highlights the value of the assessment and implementation strategy process as a way for hospitals to engage with community needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]