Cases: 14 Short Employer Cost Savings Briefs

By investing in substance abuse treatment, employers can reduce their overall costs. Substance use disorders cost the nation an estimated $276 billion a year, with much of the cost resulting from lost work productivity and increased healthcare spending.1 Given that 76 percent of people with drug or alcohol problems are employed,2 employers have a major stake in ensuring that employees have access to substance abuse treatment.

DID YOU KNOW?
About 19.2 million U.S. workers (15%) reported using or being impaired by alcohol at work at least once in the past year.3
FAST FACTS
♦ Replacing an employee costs from 25 percent to almost 200 percent of annual compensation— not including the loss of institutional knowledge, service continuity, and coworker productivity and morale that can accompany employee turnover.4

♦ The averagecost per visit for outpatient substance abuse treatment (by far the most frequent form of treatment) in 2002 was $26.72.5

♦ Savings from investing in substance abuse treatment can exceed costs by a ratio of 12 to 1.6

please, open here to see the full-text, pdf, 28 pages:
http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/Prevline/pdfs/SMA08-4350/Emp_cost_save_28p.pdf