IT’S SIMPLE & IT’S COMPLICATED –

April 23, 2021 – The difference is still clearly evident when comparisons are made of the full detoxification treatment packages. In our calculations, the costs of a 3-week in-patient detoxification programme are nine times those of an 8-week out-patient programme.

A more informative calculation of the relative cost-effectiveness of the detoxification in the two settings can be made by adjusting the costs of the treatment packages according to their observed success rates. The costs of the in-patient detoxification programme should therefore be divided by 0.81 to adjust for the 81% abstinence rate of patients treated in this programme, and the costs of the out-patient programme could be divided by 0.17 Gossop et al, 1986). When adjusted for successful achievement of abstinence, the difference is greatly reduced ± the in- patient treatment costs less than twice as much as the out-patient treatment.

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