ASAM Patient Placement Criteria

As of July 1, 2012, all Community Mental Health Centers were required to use the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Patient Placement Criteria (PPC).

In 2013 ASAM published the third edition, titled The ASAM Criteria: Treatment Criteria for Addictive, Substance-Related and Co-Occurring Conditions. The purpose of The ASAM Criteria is to enhance the use of multidimensional assessments to develop patient-centered service plans and to guide clinicians, counselors, and care managers in making objective decisions about patient admission, continuing care and transfer/discharge for various levels of care for addictive, substance-related and co-occurring conditions.

ASAM criteria are now widely accepted as a standard for determining level of care for substance use disorder and co-occurring substance use disorder and mental health conditions. Additionally, the Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) require its use to authorize treatment initiation, continuation and discharge.

The link below may provide resources in the use of The ASAM Criteria.