Agency differences in posttreatment outcomes: a follow-up of drug abuse treatment clients.

The present study examined variations in posttreatment outcomes for clients treated in the same modality but in different treatment agencies located across the United States. Three modalities were studied, represented by seven methadone maintenance (MM) programs, seven therapeutic community (TC) programs, and nine outpatient drug-free (DF) programs. Agency differences within MM and TC programs were not significantly different on posttreatment outcomes for opioid use, nonopioid use, alcohol use, productive activities, and criminality. There were significant outcome differences among the DF agencies, but they were explained by variations in the background characteristics of the particular types of clients served by each agency. In particular, these posttreatment outcome differences appeared to be related to programs treating primarily opioid addicts versus primarily nonopioid users.