Expanding the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network to address the management of substance use disorders in general medical settings

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (2008) expand substance use disorder (SUD) care services in the USA into general medical settings. Care offered in these settings will engage substance-using patients in an integrated and patient-centered environment that addresses physical and mental health comorbidities and follows a chronic care model. This expansion of SUD services presents a great need for evidence-based practices useful in general medical settings, and reveals several research gaps to be addressed. The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute on Drug Abuse can serve an important role in this endeavor. High-priority research gaps are highlighted in this commentary. A discussion follows on how the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network can transform to address changing patterns in SUD care to efficiently generate evidence to guide SUD treatment practice within the context of recent US health care legislation.