Why Treatment for Alcohol Dependence is Changing

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Abstract
The economic perspectives of treatment professionals and insurance payors have become widely divergent, and payors are insisting on low-cost (outpatient) treatment methods. This trend has forced treatment providers to modify the inpatient traditional Minnesota model of treatment, to outpatient care, thereby reducing the amount and intensity of the treatment exposure. This shift toward lower intensity levels of care is occurring at a time when the absolute numbher of patients in treatment is declining. The thrust toward cost-efficiency imposed by payors is therefore aimed at reducing both over-treatment and over-capacity. Nonetheless, outpatient, lower cost treatment is probably not feasible or workable for all patients and in many cases hospitalization is still appropriate. Treatment providers must update and modify their methodologies in line with current fiscal realities while preserving the efficacy of traditional closed-unit treatment.

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