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Measuring Cost Of Treatment Versus Value Of Recovery

New medicines and advances in behavioral therapies have led to economic pressures to identify which of these interventions are the most efficacious and also the most cost effective. Even though alcoholism has costs – on personal, social, and health care levels – there have been few studies on how best to measure either the economic burden or the effect of treatment on economic outcomes. This study used the Economic Form 90, designed to measure changes in key economic outcomes following treatment for alcohol dependence. The objective was to examine the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefits of treatment. The Economic Form 90 can detect significant differences – across a range of dependence-severity levels – for the economic impact of inpatient medical care, emergency-department medical care, behavioral health care, being on parole or probation, and missed workdays if employed. Researchers used baseline data from the Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions Study (a three-year study of 1,383 of alcohol dependent patients in treatment) to see if the Economic Form 90 can detect such differences.

Results indicate that the Economic Form 90 can be a useful tool in assessing the impact of recent economic events and for detecting changes in economic outcomes following treatment. More specifically, it can detect significant differences across a range of dependence-severity levels for the economic outcomes of inpatient medical care, emergency-department medical care, behavioral health care, being on parole or probation, and missed work days. The researchers did not find any significant cost differences across dependence severity for employment status, outpatient medical care, criminal justice involvement, or motor vehicle accidents. These findings may help identify therapies that not only work but are also cost-effective.

(Bray, JW, Zarkin, GA, Miller, WR, Mitra, D, Kivlahan, DR, Martin, DJ, Couper, DJ, Cisler, RA: Measuring economic outcomes of alcohol treatment using the Economic Form 90. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 68:248-255, 2007.)

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