title: Benefit--cost methodology in the evaluation of therapeutic services for alcoholism.
abstract: Benefit--cost analysis as a form of "social profitability analysis" can be a powerful tool in the overall evaluation of alcoholism treatment efforts. Alcoholism treatment potentially leads to a multiplicity of benefits in addition to sobriety. Benefit--cost analysis provides a methodology for converting many of these diverse benefits into a common metric (dollars), thereby allowing the comparison of aggregate benefits and treatment costs. The analysis thus leads to the expression of treatment outcome in terms of the return on investment. A benefit--cost analysis conducted on 3034 clients from the Oklahoma data base indicated a return to society of $1.98 for every $1 invested in alcoholism treatment. Such data may represent a critical portion of the information required for responsible resource allocation decisions.
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000191:economics; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States