About the American Society for Addiction Medicine Criteria

The American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) produces the ASAM Criteria. According to the ASAM website, “The ASAM Criteria is the most widely used and comprehensive set of standards for placement, continued stay, transfer, or discharge of patients with addiction and co-occurring conditions. Formerly known as the ASAM patient placement criteria, The ASAM Criteria is the result of a collaboration that began in the 1980s to define one national set of criteria for providing outcome-oriented and results-based care in the treatment of addiction.”

Among other things, the ASAM Criteria establishes levels of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment/care. However, ASAM is not an accreditation organization and does not regulate SUD programs. While most states rely on the ASAM criteria to establish addiction treatment, they may or may not adopt ASAM’s language and classification schema. The ASAM Criteria are continually revised as new advancements in the treatment of substance use disorder are introduced. 

In 2022, BD SUMHAC advocated for language to clarify that it is inappropriate to exclude individuals from inpatient/residential treatment facilities simply because they have a bleeding disorder. The fourth edition draft that was released in 2022 stated, “The program’s admission criteria should not exclude patients on the basis of a current or past diagnoses alone; the appropriateness of admission should be determined based on the severity and acuity of concerns, and associated risks, across the dimensions as outlined in the dimensional admission criteria. If a condition can be self-managed by the patient (e.g., a blood clotting disorder) or managed effectively by an external provider, it should not be used as a reason for exclusion from any level of care.” BD SUMHAC was hopeful that the draft language would be included in the final fourth edition of the ASAM Criteria to increase access to substance use treatment for people with bleeding disorders.

As a result of these efforts, the 4th edition of the ASAM criteria did use language about bleeding disorders and self-administration of medications throughout the Dimensional Admission Criteria Level Of Care Specific Standards. In residential levels, the ASAM emphasized to not deny admission based on a condition a patient can self-manage.

Excerpts of the 4th Edition of The ASAM Criteria were shared with BD SUMHAC on August 19, 2024, which can be found here.

For more detailed information about the ASAM Criteria, please visit the ASAM website: https://www.asam.org.