@article{ref1,
title="Admission practices and cost of care for opioid use disorder at residential addiction treatment programs in the US",
journal="Health affairs (Project Hope)",
year="2021",
author="Beetham, Tamara and Saloner, Brendan and Gaye, Marema and Wakeman, Sarah E. and Frank, Richard G. and Barnett, Michael Lawrence",
volume="40",
number="2",
pages="317-325",
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 &quot;treatment beds.&quot; 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 admission offers during the call, high up-front payments, and recruitment techniques were common even among programs with third-party accreditation and state licenses. These findings raise concerns that residential programs, including accredited and licensed ones, may be admitting a clinically and financially vulnerable population for costly treatment without assessing appropriateness for other care settings.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0278-2715",
doi="10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00378",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00378"
}