Frequently Asked Questions - LACES

Los Angeles County Evaluation System:
An Outcomes Reporting Program (LACES)

1. What is LACES?

   LACES stands for the “Los Angeles County Evaluation System: An Outcomes Reporting Program.” It is a county-funded evaluation involving all county-funded alcohol and other drug treatment programs.

2. Who supports this evaluation?

   The Los Angeles County Alcohol and Drug Program Administration (ADPA) sponsors the evaluation. In addition, the evaluation reports to an advisory committee. As part of LACES, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP) is providing training and will evaluate the alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment/recovery system.

3. Who is on the advisory committee?

   The advisory committee, or Community Review Committee (CRC), is made up of providers, members of the Commission on Alcoholism, and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Commission, and community advocates. Their task is to review, comment on, and approve planned evaluation activities and to ensure that the evaluation activities do not interrupt treatment program services any more than necessary.

4. What does the evaluation entail?

   The evaluation involves the collection and analysis of information from a number of sources including the treatment participants, the programs where treatment is provided, and the agencies that house the programs

5. What kind of extra work will I need to do for this evaluation?

   All treatment programs must complete the Los Angeles County Participant Reporting System (LACPRS) admission and discharge questions for all participants. The majority of the information used for the evaluation originates from this system.

   In addition, programs are also required to enroll participants into the evaluation follow-up group every month. Your program will be notified when to commence with the enrollment as well as be provided training on the enrollment procedure. The enrollment process includes completion of the Consent and Locator Forms. This enrollment responsibility is the only additional requirement for the evaluation.

6. How will participants be recruited?

   Although all participants must have a completed LACPRS and participation in the evaluation is a mandatory aspect of all county contracts with treatment providers, participation in the follow-up by those receiving treatment is voluntary. Participants will be recruited into the evaluation follow-up as they enter into the treatment program. Any adult (18 years or older) who is admitted to your program is eligible to participate in the evaluation. Participation in the evaluation does not alter treatment. If participants agree to be in the follow-up group, they will be asked to sign an Informed Consent Form and provide information on a Locator Form. The Informed Consent Form states that the participant will be contacted in the future for a telephone or face-to-face interview by the staff at UCLA approximately 12 months from the date of admission into treatment. The Locator Form must be completed so that UCLA has enough contact information to find the participant for the follow-up interview.

7. How much time is involved and how are participants compensated?

   It is estimated that enrollment of the participant may take about 10 to 15 minutes of the counselors’ time. Additional time will also be required to maintain records of the services the participant received–if you do not already keep these types of records. No additional time will be required of the counselor for the follow-up interviews because the staff at UCLA will conduct those.

   The time involved in the follow-up interview for the participant is about 35 minutes. The payment to the participant for a completed interview is a $20 grocery voucher. Some participants will also be randomly selected to provide a urine sample. When the participant provides a urine sample, he or she will be given an additional $10 grocery voucher. Thus, for a completed interview and a urine sample, the participant may earn a total of $30 in grocery vouchers. All payments will be in the form of a grocery voucher sent to participants after completion of a phone interview or given to the participant directly after the completion of an in-person interview.

8. What informed consent procedures are used?

   The counselors should read the participant recruitment script to all eligible participants entering the program. The Informed Consent Form contains information about the interview content, potential benefits to the participant, and the risks that might be involved. The informed consent also details the purpose of the evaluation and how the information will be used. The participant must sign the Informed Consent Form before he or she completes the Locator Form. The participant should be given a copy of the Informed Consent Form and the Patient’s Bill of Rights, detailing the rights of participants in research studies. They will also be told about the Certificate of Confidentiality, which informs the participants that the information they provide is protected from disclosure or subpoena.

9. Will the information and reports reflect the progress of each provider individually or the attempts of the county as a whole?

   The information gathered will be analyzed and reported by program type and system-wide level for the entire county. Currently, individual program level information is only available to the executive directors of those programs, ADPA, and UCLA.

10. How is a comparison going to be made between different modalities?

    Currently, there are no plans to make comparisons across different treatment modalities.

11. How often will providers get feedback? Reports?

    LACES prepares reports on a regular basis and as requested by the County. These reports include aggregate participant information from the LACPRS admission and discharge questions along with modality and countywide information. Information on participant enrollment in the follow-up is also be included.

12. What measures are taken to protect participant confidentiality?

    All identifiable information collected for the purposes of the evaluation requires informed consent–which is why the consent form must be completed prior to the completion of the locator form. The information collected from the LACPRS admission and discharge questions is first stripped of identifying information as dictated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Code of Federal Regulations, Protection of Human Subjects (CFR part 46). Therefore all information included in the evaluation was either consented to by the treatment participant or does not include any information that can be used to identify the treatment participant.

    The Locator Forms and the Consent Forms do include names; therefore, this information will be kept in a locked drawer at UCLA separate from any treatment information. Furthermore, locator information will be kept separate from all other information, and as such will not be linked to other participant information.

13. Will participants who drop out after 2 weeks be included?

    All participants who complete the intake (LACPRS admission questions) will be included in the evaluation program. Furthermore, if the participant also volunteered to participate in the evaluation follow-up and completed the Consent Form and Locator Form, they will be included in the evaluation, regardless of the length of treatment.

14. Who should I contact if I have a question?

    First try to find the answer by re-reading the research protocol and manuals. Next, check our Web site at www.laces-ucla.org or contact the LACES help line at (866) 522-3952 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.