ASAM Criteria
The ASAM Criteria are the American Society of Addiction Medicine's standards for assessing a patient across six dimensions and matching them to a level of care, from outpatient therapy to medically managed inpatient treatment.
Also called ASAM levels of care, ASAM placement criteria
- Last reviewed
- 2 sources, linked
- 6 related terms
What it means
First published in 1991 as the ASAM patient placement criteria, the ASAM Criteria are now in a fourth edition, released in 2023. The fourth edition assesses six dimensions: intoxication, withdrawal and addiction medications; biomedical conditions; psychiatric and cognitive conditions; substance use-related risks; recovery environment interactions; and person-centered considerations.
Its continuum runs from Level 1, outpatient (1.0 long-term remission monitoring, 1.5 outpatient therapy, 1.7 medically managed outpatient), through Level 2 (2.1 intensive outpatient, 2.5 high-intensity outpatient, 2.7 medically managed intensive outpatient) and Level 3, residential (3.1, 3.5 and 3.7), to Level 4, medically managed inpatient. Withdrawal management is no longer its own set of levels; it is a service delivered within the continuum.
Many programs, payers and state systems still use third-edition names and move to the new edition on their own schedules. That is why one center calls its Level 2.5 program partial hospitalization and another calls it high-intensity outpatient.
Why it matters for your website
Families do not search for level numbers, but insurers and referral sources think in them. Give every level of care you run its own page, named the way people search (detox, residential, PHP, IOP), and state which ASAM level each one is, so the plain-language name and the clinical one line up.
Keep the edition straight. If your clinical team has moved to the fourth edition, the website should not still describe a level that no longer exists.
Sources
The facts on this page about a law, a regulator, a clinical standard or a platform come from these sources. Each link opens the original in a new tab.
- American Society of Addiction MedicineAbout the ASAM Criteria (opens in a new tab)
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, SAPCASAM Criteria 4th Edition Implementation (levels of care and dimensions) (opens in a new tab)
Last reviewed
This entry explains a clinical term so you can describe your care accurately on your website. It is not medical advice, and clinical decisions belong with your clinical team.
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