The ASAM Criteria
The ASAM criteria, also known as the ASAM patient placement criteria, are the result of a collaboration that began in the 1980s to define one national set of criteria for providing outcome-orientated and results-based care in the treatment of addiction. Today the criteria have become the most widely used and comprehensive set of guidelines for placement, continued stay and transfer/discharge of patients with addiction and co-occurring conditions and the ASAM criteria are required in over 30 states.
The ASAM Criteria is an indispensable resource that addiction medicine professionals rely on to provide a nomenclature for describing the continuum of addiction services. Click The ASAM Criteria or ASAM PPC Supplement on Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Use Disorders to learn more or purchase.
How the ASAM Criteria Work
The ASAM criteria provide separate placement criteria for adolescents and adults to create comprehensive and individualized treatment plans. Adolescent and adult treatment plans are developed through a multidimensional patient assessment over five broad levels of treatment that are based on the degree of direct medical management provided, the structure, safety and security provided and the intensity of treatment services provided.
Through this strength-based multidimensional assessment the ASAM Criteria addresses the patient's needs, obstacles and liabilities, as well as the patient's strengths, assets, resources and support structures.
Oversight and Revision of the ASAM Criteria
Oversight and revision of the criteria is a collaborative process between ASAM leadership and the Steering Committee of the Coalition for National Clinical Criteria. The coalition represents major stakeholders in addiction treatment and has been meeting regularly since the development of the first ASAM Patient Placement Criteria in 1991. The coalition addresses feedback and ensures that the Criteria adequately serves and supports medical professionals, employers, purchasers and providers of care in both the public and private sectors. (Full roster of members and their affiliations and minutes of meetings are available upon request).
Click here to learn more about oversight and revision of the ASAM criteria.
Did you know the ASAM criteria is required in over 30 states? Click here to read a survey of state use.
Contact pubs@asam.org with any questions regarding ASAM publications.
Other ASAM publications: