Comorbid mental disorders among clients in addiction treatment: The costs of care

  • Karen Urbanoski Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
  • Jürgen Rehm Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
  • Shannon Lange Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
  • Svetlana Popova Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Keywords: Addiction, Substance use disorder, Specialized addiction treatment, Comorbid mental disorders, Cost

Abstract

Urbanoski, K., Rehm, J., Lange, S., & Popova, S. (2014). Comorbid mental disorders among clients in addiction treatment: The costs of care. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 3(4), 297-304. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v3i4.183

Aims: To compare the volume and costs of services for clients with and without comorbid mental disorders in an addiction treatment system.

Design: Secondary data analysis.

Setting: Administrative data for the fiscal year 2010–2011 were abstracted from the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Information System (DATIS).

Participants: Data represents all clients entering publicly funded services in Ontario in the fiscal year 2010–2011 (N = 41,953).

Measures: Service costs were calculated using recent estimates of the cost per outpatient visit and day of residential care. Average numbers of visits/days per client, with and without mental disorders, were compared across gender and age subgroups.

Findings: Overall, 22% of clients treated in 2010–2011 reported a past-year mental disorder. The costs of services for these clients were estimated to be between $18.5 and $40.3 million (in Canadian dollars), or 20% of the total service costs for the year. The largest difference in average volume of care was seen for residential treatment, where having a mental disorder was associated with seven fewer days of care. On average, during the period studied, among those without mental disorders, men spent 20 more days in residential care than did women.

Conclusions: At the system-level in Ontario, clients with mental disorders did not account for a disproportionate amount of the total costs of care during the year. While these findings may signal a mismatch between the needs of clients with co-occurring disorders and their use of services, it is also possible that such clients receive additional care in other treatment sectors. Further study is warranted to explore potential unmet needs among clients with co-occurring disorders in addiction treatment.

Author Biographies

Karen Urbanoski, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Social and Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Jürgen Rehm, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Social and Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Epidemiological Research Unit, Klinische Psychologie and Psychotherapie, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Shannon Lange, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Social and Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada

Svetlana Popova, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Social and Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Published
2014-12-11
How to Cite
Urbanoski, K., Rehm, J., Lange, S., & Popova, S. (2014). Comorbid mental disorders among clients in addiction treatment: The costs of care. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 3(4), 297-304. https://doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v3i4.183
Section
Papers