ASAM Levels of Care for Treatment of Substance Use

The ASAM Levels of Care describes treatment as a continuum marked by 4 broad levels of service and an early intervention level. Within the 5 broad levels of care, decimal numbers are used to further express gradations of intensity of services.

Graphic shown with permission from the American Society of Addiction medicine. For more information, see: https://www.asamcontinuum.org/knowledgebase/what-are-the-asam-levels-of-care/.

Additional Planning Considerations

Be aware that other associated mental health diagnoses and comorbities need to be factored into treatment planning. The ASAM criteria further structures assessment around 6 dimensions to provide a common language of holistic, biopsychosocial assessment and treatment across addiction treatment, physical health, and mental health services as well as spiritual issues relevant in recovery.

For further reading, an overview of the 6 ASAM dimensions can be found here: https://www.asamcontinuum.org/knowledgebase/what-are-the-six-dimensions-of-the-asam-criteria/.