COST ANALYSIS IN ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF METHADONE MAINTENANCE TREATMENT: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

ABSTRACT – Economic considerations influence the system of substance abuse treatment, and determine not only who gets treatment and for how long, but also what services the patients receive and in what settings. Maintenance treat-ment reduces risk-taking behaviours such as injection drug use and needle sha-ring, as well as the mortality rates associated with opiate use. Moreover, it may result in a decrement in costs incurred by social services provision and the criminal justice system. This suggests the need for a more complex economic evaluation of maintenance treatment. This paper describes methods of economic evaluation in health care and reviews methodology of cost analysis in economic evaluations of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT)