Monday, January 18, 2010

Addiction treatment afflicted with Baumol's cost disease

I'd never heard of this guy or "Baumol's cost disease", but it makes a lot of sense and is has difficult implications for the future of of addiction treatment, particularly for providers that serve indigent populations or focus on offering affordable care.

Update: I got a few questions about this. The implication for programs is that, because there is little or no chance for gains in efficiency, programs must make more money every year just to maintain the status quo. Prices are just about the only lever that programs have.

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