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AOD Treatment Reduces Family Medical Costs

Alcohol and drug use disorders are among the most prevalent chronic illnesses.  Family members of individuals with alcohol and other drug (AOD) disorders have higher medical costs than those with other chronic diseases, such as diabetes and asthma and have more medical and psychiatric conditions than families without AOD disorders. Past studies provided evidence of reduced family medical costs following AOD treatment but most were based on alcohol-based treatment, did not match patients or families with non-AOD affected families (controls), or consider the AOD patient’s treatment outcome.
A 2009 study by the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente and Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco asked whether positive AOD treatment results in reduced family medical costs. Using the databases of Northern California Kaiser Permanente, a private, integrated health plan, they matched AOD treatment patients and their families with health plan member families without AOD disorders. The AOD patients included patients with both alcohol and/or other drug disorders. AOD patients were matched by age and gender to non-AOD patients, and their treatment outcome at one year was measured, along with age, gender, geography, and family size.

The study then looked at differences in average medical cost per member month for five years between family members of abstinent and non-abstinent AOD patients and controls. Consistent with other research, family members of both abstinent and non-abstinent AOD patients had significantly higher costs than controls prior to treatment. Average medical costs for family members of non-abstinent AOD patients continued upwards for 5 years and were significantly higher than for control family members. However, at 2–5 years after intake, each year family members of AOD patients who were abstinent at one year had average per member medical costs similar to the non-AOD families.

The study design is useful for shaping health plan policy because – instead of comparing family members of abstinent to non-abstinent AOD patients directly, both of whom may have higher costs than family members of non-AOD patients – the researchers compared these two groups to a sample of families with no AOD. The findings strongly support the business case for earlier and better treatment for AOD individuals and their families.

(Weisner, C, Parthasarathy, S, Moore, C, Mertens, JR: Individuals receiving addiction treatment: are medical costs of their family members reduced?, Addiction, 105, 1226-1234, 2009)

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