Measuring productivity in outpatient addiction counseling

Outpatient addiction therapy is the most prevalent form of treatment for people suffering with chemical dependence. Hospital-based outpatient programs need to provide excellence in care and service while maintaining cost efficiency. Unfortunately, addiction services have not kept pace with the rest of the healthcare industry in measuring productivity and formulating benchmarks. The nature of counseling makes it difficult to accurately define productivity and even more difficult to measure it. This article addresses productivity measurement in the outpatient addiction setting, describes common obstacles in measurement, and offers solutions to these obstacles.