COURSE DESCRIPTION AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees will be able to:

a. Describe several trends in addiction epidemiology, prevention and treatment, and describe potential future trajectories.

b. Appraise sociopolitical forces that may serve to shape future approaches to addiction management

c. Estimate/predict the role of “big data” in defining future approaches to addiction management

d. Forecast potential technological innovations and their impact on addictions, including, for example, developments in AI such as ChatGPT.

e. Review the central features of healthcare innovation and propose how these might manifest in the future of addiction prevention and treatment.

2. Abstract content

Healthcare in general, and addiction treatment specifically, are poised to experience dramatic shifts over the next 5-10 years.  Increasing payer pressure to capture, report and improve outcomes, and to control costs and alter the trajectory of the illness will result in wholesale shifts in the way addictions are managed.  Broader societal goals of increasing access to care, improving the efficacy and utilization of screening, prevent the onset of these disorders, and manage the widespread criminalization of substance use disorders can be achieved if philosophical objections and technological hurdles can be negotiated.  

In this talk, a futurists perspective on addiction will be presented, with an eye to briefly describing the forces that led us to our current state, and describing changes that might allow us to navigate to improved global addiction outcomes.  In particular, an emphasis on broader, well-defined principles of healthcare innovation and their potential application to addiction will be discussed.  Attendees will leave with a broader perspective on how they themselves can participate in defining the future of addiction treatment.