Adopting Evidence-Based Medically Assisted Treatments in Substance Abuse Treatment Organizations: Roles of Leadership Socialization and Funding Streams

Abstract

This paper examines the organizational adoption of medically assisted treatments (MAT) for substance use disorders (SUDs) in a representative sample of 555 US for-profit and not-for-profit treatment centers. the study examines organizational adoption of these treatments in an institutionally contested environment that traditionally has valued behavioral treatment, using sociological and resource dependence frameworks the findings indicate that socialization of leadership, measured by formal clinical education, is related to the adoption of MAT. Funding patterns also affect innovation adoption, with greater adoption associated with higher proportions of earned income from third party fees for services, and less adoption associated with funding from criminal justice sources. These findings may generalize to other social mission-oriented organizations where innovation adoption may be linked to private and public benefit values inherent in the type of socialization of leadership and different patterns of funding support.