New trends are emerging in the financing, size, and public/private ownership of alcoholism treatment services especially in exclusive drug rehabs. These shifts include changes in reimbursement policy, the expansion of inpatient treatment, increases in the number of for-profit treatment providers, the growth of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and the emergence of nontraditional sources of recruitment into treatment (e.g., media advertising, employee assistance programs, drinking-driver programs official interventions).

Demographic trends in the general population have important implications for the demand for alcohol-related health services. Alcohol abuse and dependence reach their peak prevalence between the ages of 35 and 45. Maturing of the baby boom population means that an increasingly larger proportion of the population is passing through this period of greatest risk; moreover, alcohol problems already were among the most prevalent problem conditions, compared with other medical or mental disorders. Other demographic trends that may influence the demand for treatment services include changes in the nuclear family, increases in the number of homeless persons, aging of the population, and deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients. The methods that are currently available for assessing a community's need for alcohol treatment services have improved but still require refinement.

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