About Substance Abuse Facilities Data / NSSATS

The National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS) is an annual census of all known substance abuse treatment facilities in the United States, both public and private. Designed to collect data based on the location of the facility, the objectives of N-SSATS are (1) to collect multipurpose data that can be used to assist SAMHSA and State and local governments in assessing the nature and extent of services provided and in forecasting treatment resource requirements; (2) to update SAMHSA’s Inventory of Behavioral Health Services (I-BHS); (3) to analyze general treatment services trends; and (4) to generate the Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/.

N-SSATS is one component of the Behavioral Health Services Information System (BHSIS), maintained by the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). N-SSATS collects three types of information from facilities: (1) characteristics of individual facilities such as types of treatment provided and services offered ( assessment, counseling, pharmacotherapies used, testing, transitional, and ancillary services), operation of the facility (public or private), special programs or groups provided for specific client types, client outreach, , and payment options; (2) client count information (based on a survey reference date) such as counts of clients served by service type and number of beds designated for treatment; and (3) general information such as licensure, certification, or accreditation and facility website availability.