Presentation Abstract: This presentation will provide a brief introduction to SAMHSA’s SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) programs and outline the evaluation process of Georgia BASICS. It will cover the program’s service delivery, characteristics of the target population, evaluation study design, and 6-month follow up requirements as determined by the funding agency. An overview of the processes utilized to obtain data at 6-month follow up, including processes implemented to reach hard to find patients, and changes in attrition over time will be provided. In sum, this section will familiarize the audience with the program and the evaluation, highlight challenges to conducting a rigorous evaluation due to program design, and introduce various methods utilized by the Georgia BASICS program evaluation team to increase the validity of evaluation results. The presenter, Joanna Akin, MSPH, is a research coordinator for the Georgia BASICS project.#2012Conference #Alcohol,DrugAbuse,andMentalHealth #Attrition