Health Care Cost | Alcohol & Substance Misuse Evaluation Measures

Health care costs measures for alcohol and substance misuse^1-4

In contrast with the worker productivity costs described above, health care costs are measures of the direct medical expenses of providing employee health care and preventive health programs.

Baseline

• Determine costs and use for health care, such as screening, disability, hospital costs, inpatient and outpatient counseling, and treatment (e.g., medications) for alcohol and substance misuse related illness and disability
• Determine health care use and costs of participants before education and other programs are initiated and after operation of these programs

Process

• Periodic repeats of baseline measures

Outcome

• Assess changes in health care use and costs from baseline
• Compare health care use and costs of participants before education and other programs are initiated and after operation of these programs◦These measures may be affected by other circumstances, such as national education programs or changes in operation at the worksite, so they should be interpreted with caution