Counseling and IOP at Methadone Treatment Facilities

See how often U.S. facility records reporting opioid treatment program status and outpatient methadone maintenance also reported counseling and IOP.

Among 1,983 U.S. facility records reporting federally certified OTP status and outpatient methadone maintenance with valid answers to both counseling questions, 1,775 (89.5%) reported individual and group counseling.

Ease Health analyzed the 2024 National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey public-use file for the 50 states and DC. OTP stands for opioid treatment program, and IOP stands for intensive outpatient treatment. Download the national and state counts (CSV).

How often did facilities report counseling and IOP?

In this cohort, 681 of 1,988 records (34.3%) reported IOP. Of the 1,983 records with valid answers to both counseling questions and the IOP question, 664 (33.5%) reported all three. For a team comparing software, these counts show how often different services appeared in the same location record. Each service has its own survey question.

The denominator changes with the answers needed for each row. Four cohort records lack a valid individual counseling answer and five lack a valid group counseling answer. All 1,988 have a valid IOP answer. A facility can contribute to more than one row. The last row counts only records with a yes to all three service questions.

Compare national and state results

California had 167 records that met the cohort definition. Of 165 with valid answers to both counseling questions, 123 (74.5%) reported both individual and group counseling. The IOP question had 167 valid answers, of which 29 (17.4%) were yes. Ohio had 130 cohort records. Of those, 126 (96.9%) reported both counseling types and 100 (76.9%) reported IOP.

The same calculation applies to every row below. Small denominators make percentages sensitive to individual responses. For a geography with zero records in the cohort, the table shows a zero count and the CSV leaves its percentages blank. These figures describe the public-use records for the survey year.

What the survey asked facilities to report

The 2024 questionnaire asks about outpatient methadone maintenance and intensive outpatient treatment under the facility's substance use services. It lists individual and group counseling separately under education and counseling services. A separate question asks how the facility treats opioid use disorder and includes federally certified OTP status as an answer.

A record can therefore report counseling and IOP at the same location as outpatient methadone maintenance. The questions describe the location's services. The file cannot connect a counseling session or IOP enrollment to a specific patient receiving methadone. It also leaves open how teams schedule, document, and bill each service. For current information about a specific program, check with the program and consult SAMHSA's OTP resources.

SAMHSA uses medications for opioid use disorder, or MOUD, for the medication category that includes buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. The cohort here is narrower. It uses the survey's outpatient methadone maintenance and federally certified OTP items. Other medication treatment settings fall outside that definition.

How a buyer can use the data

Start with the actual services your organization provides at each location. An operator with a medication visit and individual counseling needs to see how those separate records come together. An operator that also provides group counseling and IOP can bring a group attendance and documentation example to the same evaluation. For a patient who goes elsewhere for IOP, show the referral, the receiving team, and the next step that remains open.

Use one fictional record with a medication follow-up, an individual visit, and a group visit. Give each vendor the same starting facts and ask the appropriate teams to identify the evidence they need.

The MAT clinic EHR buyer guide covers the medication follow-up and counseling example. The IOP and PHP buyer guide covers the operational questions when an organization runs more than one level of care. For a different denominator, see the national IOP and partial hospitalization analysis.

Reproduce the counts

Download the Delimited archive from the 2024 SAMHSA data files page and open NSUMHSS_2024_PUF_CSV.csv. The codebook defines the field labels and response codes.

1. Keep the 50 states and DC in LOCATIONSTATE. Select records with OTXFEDOTP=1 and CTYPEML=1. That yields 1,988 records.
2. Use SRVC6 for individual counseling, SRVC5 for group counseling, and CTYPE2 for intensive outpatient treatment.
3. For each measure, count records with a 0 or 1 in every required field. The numerator counts the subset with a 1 in each of those fields. Missing and skipped answers are excluded from the relevant denominator.
4. Divide the numerator by the valid record count and round to one decimal place. Count each included record once. Compute the national percentage from the national totals.

Cite the result

Use Ease Health analysis of the 2024 SAMHSA N-SUMHSS public-use file and include the cohort, geography, year, numerator, and denominator. For the main result, use 1,775 of 1,983 records with valid answers to both counseling questions. For IOP alone, use 681 of 1,988 records. The behavioral health research catalog lists the other public-use analyses and their downloads.

Frequently asked questions

How common were individual and group counseling in this cohort?

Among 1,983 U.S. facility records reporting federally certified OTP status and outpatient methadone maintenance with valid answers to both counseling questions, 1,775 (89.5%) reported individual and group counseling.

How many records reported intensive outpatient treatment?

In the 50 states and DC, 681 of 1,988 facility records reporting federally certified opioid treatment program status and outpatient methadone maintenance (34.3%) also reported intensive outpatient treatment.

What counts as a facility in this analysis?

Each count represents one record in the 2024 SAMHSA public-use file. The analysis includes records in the 50 states and DC that answered yes to both federally certified opioid treatment program status and outpatient methadone maintenance.

Does the analysis measure how many patients used counseling or IOP?

The percentages describe the services reported at facility locations. Patient participation, referral completion, and treatment outcomes are outside the scope of the analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

How common were individual and group counseling in this cohort?

Among 1,983 U.S. facility records reporting federally certified OTP status and outpatient methadone maintenance with valid answers to both counseling questions, 1,775 (89.5%) reported individual and group counseling.

How many records reported intensive outpatient treatment?

In the 50 states and DC, 681 of 1,988 facility records reporting federally certified opioid treatment program status and outpatient methadone maintenance (34.3%) also reported intensive outpatient treatment.

What counts as a facility in this analysis?

Each count represents one record in the 2024 SAMHSA public-use file. The analysis includes records in the 50 states and DC that answered yes to both federally certified opioid treatment program status and outpatient methadone maintenance.

Does the analysis measure how many patients used counseling or IOP?

The percentages describe the services reported at facility locations. Patient participation, referral completion, and treatment outcomes are outside the scope of the analysis.