The benefits of timely access to treatment: Substance use disorders, healthcare utilization and employment

Abstract

This research studies the impact of improving access to treatment for substance use disorders by reducing wait times. Linked individual-level administrative data are used to estimate the impacts of wait times on patients’ treatment service utilization and employment. Potential confounding is addressed using an instrumental variables strategy that exploits exogenous variation in wait times generated by local congestion in the healthcare system. We find that longer wait times lead to increased use of treatment services in the focal treatment episode, raised re-entry into subsequent treatment episodes, and lowered employment, consistent with patients’ health deteriorating while waiting for treatment. Our calculations suggest that each dollar spent on reducing wait times yields a return of between six and seven dollars. These findings demonstrate that shortening wait times for treatment can significantly reduce the economic and social burdens of addiction.