ASAM Criteria 4th Edition Draft Standards Open for Public Comment

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) released their 4th Edition Draft Standards of The ASAM Criteria® for public comment. These are the national standards for addiction treatment, including:

• Assessment and treatment planning
• The levels of care that should be available within the treatment system (i.e., the Continuum of Care)
• The service characteristics for each level of care (e.g., staffing, support systems, services, etc.)
• Determining what level of care should be recommended for a given patient

While some core principles from past editions remain the same, the Editorial Subcommittee (led by R. Corey Waller, MD, MS, FACEP, DFASAM) has “proposed major changes to facilitate dissemination and implementation, address known gaps in the quality of addiction treatment, and reflect the evolving needs of the field.”[1]

Public comment on these new Draft Standards is requested through an online submission form until Close of Business on Friday November 11th. (Please note that comments may be made public). This feedback will help ASAM understand any unintended consequences for diverse programs and healthcare systems across the country. They encourage the sharing of these standards (and the online submission form) with other interested stakeholders.