The Hidden Cost of Untreated Addiction

The Hidden Cost of Untreated Addiction: Why Hospital Beds Aren’t Enough

In the latest edition of OPEN MINDS, Monica E. Oss spotlights a staggering but often overlooked reality: Americans with addiction disorders are being hospitalized at significantly higher rates than the general population—9.7% versus 8.4%—amounting to an estimated 442,000 excess admissions in 2022 alone. (I love Open Minds they are the BEST market research company for our industry)

At first glance, it might seem like the system is responding. But Oss challenges us to ask a harder question: Are we treating addiction, or are we just treating the consequences of not treating it earlier?

What’s especially troubling is that hospitalizations for people with substance use disorders (SUDs) are often preventable. Many of these patients are caught in a revolving door of emergency rooms and inpatient stays—especially those with co-occurring conditions like opioid use disorder (OUD) and serious mental illness. The cost isn’t just financial—it’s human.

For providers like us at Red Door Life, this reinforces something we’ve long believed: real recovery starts with connection, not crisis. Value-based care models that measure performance by readmissions and emergency utilization are penalizing systems for failing to treat addiction at its root. And that’s a failure we can’t afford—not for our clients, and not for our communities.

Oss highlights that “untreated addictions are the top contributors to poor performance” in healthcare payment models. Yet despite this, many systems still resist investing in integrated care for substance use and mental health disorders. Why? Because traditional structures haven’t caught up with the complexity of addiction recovery.

We believe it’s time to rethink the model.

Instead of asking how quickly we can discharge someone from the hospital, let’s ask how we can build a life worth living. Instead of letting insurance plans determine treatment length, let’s design systems that flex around real human needs.

At Red Door Life, we’re building a treatment model that does just that—blending clinical care with connection, community, and continuity. Because if we want fewer hospitalizations, we need to care for the whole person, not just their drug or alcohol use disorder.