Research has also shown that more expensive treatment does not necessarily lead to better outcomes. Also, research shows that cost offsets are achieved following treatment: health care cost reductions among those treated for alcoholism compensates sufficiently for the cost of the treatment. Researchers also have demonstrated that, while some patients will require inpatient therapy, for many patients, outpatient treatment may be more cost-effective. With such questions generally resolved, research is now focusing on other topics, such as comparing the cost-effectiveness of shorter versus longer inpatient treatment, and examining whether short-term savings from outpatient treatment are balanced against treatment costs that might be realized in the long term. Such research should benefit immensely from the increasing standardization of methods for measuring treatment costs.
