Medication-Assisted Inpatient Alcohol Dependency Treatment Costs 40% Less Than Traditional Treatment

Inpatient treatment costs for individuals who received medication-assisted alcohol dependence treatment were about 40% less than inpatient costs for traditional treatment. Those who received medication-assisted treatment in a recent study used one of four medications—oral disulfiram, naltrexone, or acamprosate, and Vivitrol XR (an injectable extended release version of naltrexone). The medication-assisted treatment group had fewer inpatient detoxification days, fewer alcoholism-related emergency department visits, and fewer alcoholism-related inpatient days. The differences were as follows: Inpatient costs per 1,000 patients for detoxification days were $1.9 million for the medication group and $3.1 million . . .