Follow the media scenario, Riverbend City: Case Scenarios Part 1, for the client you have selected for the remaining assignments in Units 5 and 9. You have explored the 6 dimensions of the ASAM criteria in the media piece and in this unit’s studies. Use the 6 dimensions of the ASAM criteria to assess for the appropriate level of care for the client in preparation for developing your assessment strategy in Unit 5 assignment. In this discussion, share what you learned from interacting with the client by addressing: ◦What questions were most challenging to generate? ◦How did this exercise help to highlight what information is missing to determine an appropriate level of care? ◦How do the gaps inform an assessment strategy?

4 Level of Care Tools | Comparing Level of Care Assessment

Summary: What do ASAM®, LOCUS®, CALOCUS®, and InterQual® all have in common? They are all level of care assessment tools, each with a different perspective.

Level of care isn’t a new concept, but has gained in popularity in recent years. A level of care is used to indicate a level of intensity or severity and determine in what type of facility specific care should be performed. It is used to make sure the patient receives the right care in the right facility at the right time. While level of care tools may be determined by each individual state, all such tools must meet federal minimum guidelines. For a list of level of care tools which are approved for your state, please go to the Division of Health can Human Services website for your state. There are many level of care tools out on the market these days and there is no one assessment tool that is the end-all be-all. Some are known for their simplicity while others are more complex and comprehensive in nature.

4 of the more commonly known level of care assessment tools

Level of Care
ASAM® level of care

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM®) has separate assessment criteria for adolescents and adults and determines levels of care by using both levels of treatment and dimensions. The levels of care include:

Degree of direct medical management provided
Structure
Safety
Security provided
Intensity of treatment services provided

ASAM Dimensions include:

Acute intoxication and/or withdrawal potential
Biomedical conditions and complications
Emotional, behavioral or cognitive conditions and complications
Readiness to change
Relapse, continued use, or continued problem potential
Recovery/living environment

LOCUS® level of care

LOCUS® and CALOCUS® were developed by the AACP and currently Deerfield Solutions is the sole software provider for the product. Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS®) uses a combination of levels of care and variables within those levels of care.

The variables are:

Care Environment
Clinical Services
Support Services
Crisis Stabilization and Prevention

The levels of LOCUS® include:

LEVEL ONE – Recovery Maintenance and Health Management
LEVEL TWO – Low Intensity Community Based Services
LEVEL THREE – High Intensity Community Based Services
LEVEL FOUR – Medically Monitored Non-Residential Services
LEVEL FIVE – Medically Monitored Residential Services
LEVEL SIX – Medically Managed Residential Services

CALOCUS® level of care

Child and Adolescent Level of Care Utilization System (CALOCUS®) uses 7 levels of care to categorize the intensity of patients, interestingly enough starting at level 0:

Level 0: Basic Services
Level 1: Recovery Maintenance and Health Management
Level 2: Outpatient Services
Level 3: Intensive Outpatient Services
Level 4: Intensive Integrated Service Without 24-Hour Psychiatric Monitoring
Level 5: Non-Secure, 24-Hour, Services with Psychiatric Monitoring
Level 6: Secure, 24-Hour, Services With Psychiatric Management

InterQual® level of care

InterQual® is one of many products offered through McKesson. Currently, this level of care assessment tends to be the most comprehensive, while still providing ease of use. InterQual® has different level of care criteria based upon the setting.

The settings include:

Acute Care
Acute Pediatric
Acute Rehabilitation
Long-Term Acute Care
Subacute and Skilled Nursing Facility
Home Care
Outpatient Rehabilitation and Chiropractic

Benefits of InterQual®

Reduce over- and under-utilization
Increase the defensibility of decisions and reduce risk
Validate appropriate care with quality indicators, checklists and reporting
Align stakeholders
Support stakeholder performance management
Ease of use

This is just an introduction to 4 of the most common level of care assessment tools. Which one is right for your organization depends on your organization, the level of ease of use, budgetary considerations, and the level of support required. As mentioned above, each state has their own variations of approved level of care assessment tools. Consult your Division of Health and Human Services for information specific to your state.

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ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

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• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Assessing For Level Of Care

Assessing For Level Of Care