The DATCAP takes a different approach (French and McGeary 1997; French et al. 1997). Its intent is to provide a procedure for measuring substance abuse treatment costs without placing a substantial burden on the treatment center staff. The procedure measures the market value of all goods and services expended in providing treatment. Costs are estimated from the perspective of the provider organization rather than from the perspective of the client, of third-party payers (such as insurance companies), or of the society at large. These cost-estimating procedures have been applied to employee assistance programs (Bray et al. 1996; French et al. in press) and to drug abuse treatment programs (French et al. 1996, 1997), but applications specific to alcoholism treatment have not yet appeared in the literature.
