Alcoholism treatment demand estimation.
There is a critical need to accurately determine the alcoholism treatment needs in a particular area so that treatment resources can be effectively allocated. Currently, many state planning agencies determine resource allocation based solely upon the population's utilization of existing treatment facilities. This demand approach for determining treatment needs omits the population subgroups who have need for treatment but may not be utilizing existing facilities. The preferred method of alcohol treatment assessment is to focus on need determination vs. demand measurement. For purposes of this paper, need is defined as those in need of treatment form problems reacted to alcoholism, while demand for treatment includes those currently participating in a treatment program. In an effort to simplify the understanding of need assessment, a framework has been proposed for grouping and classifying the various alcoholism treatment assessment models. The initial phase of the model differentiates between demand vs. need assessment models. Next, need assessment models are grouped into four broad subgroups: (1) survey based models, (2) mortality based models, (3) treatment and mortality based models, and (4) multi-factor statistical based models. The final phase of the model presents a classification of demand based models. The demand based models include two types: (1) simple utilization models and (2) utilization combined with demographic models.