Objective: We examined if the presumed reduction in costs of day hospital detoxification compared to inpatient treatment is neutralised by more frequent additional inpatient treatment episodes during a 1-year follow-up.
Method: Randomised clinical trial with 1-year follow-ups. Calculation of costs for additional treatments is based on data from health insurances.
Results: Compared to inpatient treatment, day hospital treatment saved approximately 24 % of the costs of the initial detoxification. Overall, additional inpatient treatments during the follow-up period produced more costs than the initial treatments, but no significant difference emerged between the treatment groups. About 75 % of costs for additional treatments were caused by 25 % of the patients.
Conclusions: Lower costs of day treatment detoxification treatment are not annilihated by increased costs of additional inpatient treatments during the first year after discharge. Under a health services perspective, research concerning a relatively small group of "heavy users" is especially important.