title: Cost-effectiveness of substance abuse services. Implications for public policy.
abstract: Cost-effectiveness analysis, a technique for allocating resources, examines the relationship between the cost of providing treatment and resulting improvement in health measured in a single, numerical scale. In applying this concept to substance abuse services, the authors expressed effectiveness in terms of additional "abstinent years." To control for differences in clients across modalities, the authors used multivariate cost-effectiveness analysis, estimating results for a typical client at each of three alternative severity levels.
authors.affiliation: Heller School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA. shepard@brandeis.edu
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Shepard
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006285:Health Planning; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D011050:Policy Making; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000191:economics*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D014481:United States