Purpose and Concept of UPC

Development of Uniform Placement Criteria for the State of Wisconsin was based upon the goal of establishing a common set of standards which will be accepted by providers, payers and agencies that develop public policy in Wisconsin. WI-UPC, when accepted by all stakeholders in the field of substance abuse treatment, promotes consistency in the identification of the patient's individual needs as well as formalizing the decision-making process. This in turn leads to the effective placement of the patient in the most appropriate, least restrictive treatment setting.

There are a variety of advantages associated with WI-UPC, including the following:

• Development of a common language which describes the multidimensional assessment process and identifies the core components of the continuum of care. This enables clinicians, patients and payers to discuss treatment planning, utilizing a common language with uniform definitions of levels of care.
• WI-UPC helps to address placement consistency by ensuring that patients obtain treatment based upon appropriateness rather than on funding limitations or program availability. Conversely, WI-UPC helps to minimize costs by ensuring that patients obtain appropriate treatment based on agreed-upon criteria.
• WI-UPC has led to the adoption of uniform definitions, common standards of program admission, continued stay and discharge criteria in order to standardize a statewide system of care. This process offers a framework applicable to both public and private treatment and payer systems.
• WI-UPC provides a guideline which focuses upon the least intrusive and least restrictive form of treatment based upon the patient’s individual needs as identified within standardized criteria.
• WI-UPC will lead to the standardized collection of data which will be useful in the development of evaluation studies to assess the efficacy of placement and treatment outcome.

WI-UPC is a rationally-based response to managed health care planning, because it is clinically focused and represents a "best practice" standard produced through a consensus-building effort within the substance abuse treatment delivery system. Benefits of adopting WI-UPC include the following clinical and systems improvements:

• Pursuit of quality care with an individualized focus;
• Multidimensional treatment planning;
• Treatment based upon a cost effective approach;
• Routine process for evaluating treatment outcomes and program planning;
• Recognition of the need for a seamless system of care, ranging from outpatient to residential, and encourages the development of this continuum;
• Provides benchmarks and the foundation for patients, providers and payers to gauge the appropriateness of a level of treatment, monitor progress and identify expected outcomes.

Last Revised: November 13, 2009