History of AMCI
Since 1990, the City of Albuquerque (City) has worked steadily to develop a comprehensive and integrated response to the substance abuse problems that plague Albuquerque and Bernalillo County residents and communities. During that time, the City has moved from a small array of treatment services with no consistent and uniform approach to treatment service delivery, to the continuing development of an organized and clinically sound, comprehensive substance abuse treatment service network.
In 1989, the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) solicited resources from Congress to support a special grant program to assist states and communities to develop comprehensive substance abuse treatment systems. Community based service delivery systems were often fragmented and lacked a cohesive approach to identifying and treating substance abusing individuals and families. Known as "Target Cities" grants, these programs were intended for cities throughout the United States that had sustained severe substance abuse problems during the 1980’s and who could bring together key community organizations to develop coordinated approaches to services.
The City’s Department of Family and Community Services applied through the State of New Mexico Department of Health for Target Cities funding to enable Albuquerque to expand, organize and strengthen its array of substance abuse treatment providers and services. In the fall of 1990, Albuquerque was awarded a CSAT Cooperative Agreement for a successful Target Cities application.
The Department of Family and Community Services managed the Target Cities grant, and has since expanded its array of services from one major adult service provider and one adolescent treatment provider, to:
- development of a free-standing Central Intake (Albuquerque Metropolitan Central Intake (AMCI);
- development of a set of minimum treatment standards for Albuquerque substance abuse treatment services;
- expansion of the treatment network to over twenty providers;
- development of an electronic management information system at AMCI for data collection;
- development of a voucher system for treatment services; and
- development of an electronic invoicing system through AMCI for payment of treatment providers.
The City of Albuquerque has transitioned all of the substance abuse treatment originally funded by the Target Cities project in addition to community partnership prevention services previously funded by a Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) grant. The City Family and Community Services Department’s Office of Substance Abuse Programs is today responsible for the overall management of the Albuquerque Substance Abuse Service System.