The nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is bringing addiction care—as well as recovery, family and educational services—to Ohio residents, including students at Miami University, with its RecoveryGo™ telehealth solutions, which are now available to anyone living in the state. A longtime collaboration with The Haven at College, which has provided services at Miami University since 2018, helped facilitate Hazelden Betty Ford’s expansion into the Buckeye 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. “Ohio has been at the center of the addiction epidemic, and we are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Miami University and other partners 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, mental health care, recovery resources and related prevention and education services—with sites across the country, expansive telehealth solutions and a growing network of collaborators throughout health care.
The Haven at College is a member of the Hazelden Betty Ford Patient Care Network and has provided outpatient addiction treatment and recovery support services to students at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, for more than two years. Now refocusing resources in its home state of California, The Haven at College worked with Miami University officials to facilitate a transition to Hazelden Betty Ford’s clinical services and ensure students would not experience any gaps in access to professional help.
“It was really important to us that we arrange a seamless transition with a quality treatment provider, and no one is better at addiction treatment than Hazelden Betty Ford, so we’re thrilled,” said Sharon Weber, co-founder of The Haven at College. “In addition to its high-quality, evidence-based treatment services, Hazelden Betty Ford also provides many recovery, family and educational services, which means Miami students and student-services professionals will have access to even more resources than before.”
Hazelden Betty Ford’s insurance-eligible, virtual intensive outpatient addiction treatment services are now available for the first time not just to students at Miami University but to people in every corner of Ohio, including underserved rural areas.
“Regardless of where you live in Ohio, 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 Laura Adams, Hazelden Betty Ford’s senior outreach manager for Ohio.
Designed to replicate its on-site patient care experience, Hazelden Betty Ford’s virtual substance use disorder services combine group therapy and individual counseling sessions via legally compliant video technology encrypted for security. To access Hazelden Betty Ford’s treatment previously, Ohio residents had to travel to a facility in another state. Now, they can access it right from their homes.
Other RecoveryGo™ resources and services now available in Ohio 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 Ohio school systems by expanding into higher-grade-level student services; and its professional education consultants—already active in Ohio—are available to collaborate with more treatment centers, hospitals, health systems and recovery organizations as well as Ohio 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 Ohio 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 James Ahlman, executive director of Hazelden Betty Ford’s East Region.
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,” Ahlman 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 Ohio 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.
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