Admission Practices And Cost Of Care For Opioid Use Disorder At Residential Addiction Treatment Programs In The US.

ABSTRACT: The use of acute, short-term residential care for opioid use disorder has grown rapidly, with policy makers advocating to increase the availability of "treatment beds." However, there are concerns about high costs and misleading recruitment practices. We conducted an audit survey of 613 residential programs nationally, posing as uninsured cash-paying individuals using heroin and seeking addiction treatment. One-third of callers were offered admission before clinical evaluation, usually within one day. Most programs required up-front payments, with for-profit programs charging more than twice as much ($17,434) as nonprofits ($5,712). Recruitment techniques (for example, offering paid transportation) were used frequently by for-profit, but not nonprofit, programs. Practices including admissi

SUBMITTER: Beetham T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8638362 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature