Cost-effectiveness of substance abuse services - Implications for public policy

Cost-effectiveness analysis, a technique for allocating resources, examines the relationship between the cost of providing treatment and resulting imp rovement 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 clien ts across modalities, the authors used multivariate cost-effectiveness anal ysis, estimating results for a typical client ateach of three alternative s everity levels.