Findings from Center for Public Health Provides New Data on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions (Budget Impact Tool for Implementing Contingency Management for Co-occurring Alcohol Use Disorders and Serious Mental Illness).

A new study conducted by the Center for Public Health in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, explores the resource requirements and costs associated with implementing contingency management (CM) for individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and severe alcohol use disorder. CM is a behavioral intervention that provides tangible incentives to patients when they achieve desired behaviors, such as reducing or abstaining from alcohol use. The study found that the cost of setting up a CM program was $6,038 per site, and the average cost of 16 weeks of CM treatments ranged from $1,119 to $1,865 per participant, depending on the treatment version. The researchers developed a customizable tool to estimate costs associated with different levels of treatment success and CM design features, which can assist treatment providers in budgeting for and sustaining CM in their practices. [Extracted from the article]