Hazelden Betty Ford Expands Addiction Services in Missouri

The nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is bringing addiction care—as well as recovery, family and educational services—to Missouri residents wherever they may be—including to those at home more due to the COVID-19 pandemic—with its RecoveryGo™ telehealth solutions, which are now available to anyone living in the state.

“Our virtual outpatient care and other telehealth resources and services are proving to be effective and convenient, and have enabled us to expand access and reach more people as substance use concerns soar amid the pandemic,” said Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Mark Mishek. “We are grateful to work with others throughout Missouri to help bring healing and hope to more individuals, families and communities.”

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of addiction treatment, co-occurring mental health care, recovery resources and related prevention and education services—with 17 sites across the country, expansive telehealth solutions and a growing network of collaborators throughout health care. Its collaborators in Missouri include Springfield-based CoxHealth and Centerpointe Hospital in St. Louis—both of which are members of the Hazelden Betty Ford Patient Care Network.

Hazelden Betty Ford recently was approved to provide insurance-eligible virtual intensive outpatient (IOP) addiction treatment services to individuals and families throughout Missouri. Designed to replicate Hazelden Betty Ford’s on-site patient care experience, its virtual services combine group therapy and individual counseling sessions via legally compliant video technology encrypted for security. To access Hazelden Betty Ford’s treatment previously, Missouri residents had to travel to a facility in another state. Now, they can access it right from their homes.

“Regardless of where you live in Missouri, if you have commercial health insurance and a computer, you and your family members are now eligible to participate in therapy without traveling anywhere,” said Kim Becker, Hazelden Betty Ford’s outreach manager for Missouri.

Other RecoveryGo™ resources and services now available in Missouri and nationwide include a free one-day virtual Family Program, available in English and Spanish; a virtual Children’s Program; and numerous digital recovery support tools, such as mobile apps, podcasts and an online peer community. In addition, Hazelden Betty Ford’s prevention experts are looking to grow their support for Missouri school systems by expanding into higher grade-level student services; and its professional education consultants are available to collaborate with treatment centers, hospitals, health systems and recovery organizations as well as Missouri public health leaders who are interested in implementing virtual care and other evidence-based behavioral health solutions.

“By providing more opportunities for quality treatment and ongoing support, and collaborating with others in Missouri who are also committed to reducing the negative impact of addiction, we’ll be able to bring hope and healing to underserved rural populations and others throughout the state,” said John Driscoll, senior vice president of recovery services at Hazelden Betty Ford.

A leader in its industry and longtime provider of telehealth solutions, Hazelden Betty Ford transitioned all of its “outpatients” nationwide at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, to a robust virtual platform that includes an effective system for virtual drug testing and other best practices to ensure the highest levels of confidentiality, safety and quality. A year later, Hazelden Betty Ford has now provided virtual outpatient care to thousands of people throughout the United States.

Early outcomes from the Butler Research Center show Hazelden Betty Ford’s virtual intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment is working well, with patients discharging “against medical advice” at a significantly lower rate than on-site IOP patients did previously—a good indicator of positive long-term outcomes. According to preliminary 1- and 3-month outcomes, Hazelden Betty Ford also has observed little to no difference between on-site and virtual IOP patients when it comes to: reported cravings, mental health symptoms, sobriety, confidence in staying sober, support group attendance, and quality of life.

“Virtual care for addiction is here to stay,” Driscoll said. “More than a stopgap solution during the pandemic, telehealth is filling important gaps in the behavioral health care system, empowering many patients to take a first step they might have otherwise delayed, and significantly expanding access. If these preliminary results hold long-term, virtual care stands to create transformative new possibilities for the thousands in Missouri and millions across the nation who struggle with substance use.”

See www.RecoveryGo.org or call 1-800-I-DO-CARE for more details and resources.

About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation’s leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient addiction and co-occurring mental health treatment for adults and youth, the Foundation has 17 locations nationwide, with expansive on-site and telehealth solutions and a network of collaborators throughout health care. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction. Learn more at www.HazeldenBettyFord.org and on Twitter @hazldnbettyford.

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