Hazelden Betty Ford Brings Telehealth Services to Montana

Hazelden Betty Ford announced that it is expanding its telehealth-based RecoveryGo addiction treatment services to Montana, the 13th state in which the insurance-eligible intensive outpatient services will be available.

Based off its in-person treatment offerings, Hazelden Betty Ford’s RecoveryGo combines group therapy and individual counseling sessions through an encrypted video chat platform. Hazelden Betty Ford also offers a free one-day family program, a children’s program and other digital recovery support tools through the telehealth service.

Beyond Montana, Hazelden Betty Ford said in a news release that it intends to continue expanding the availability of RecoveryGo into New Mexico, Arizona and other states. Early returns on the virtual service offerings have been promising: Patients using the virtual IOP service have been discharging against medical advice “at a significantly lower rate” than on-site IOP patients, and reported cravings, mental health symptoms, sobriety, confidence in remaining sober, support group attendance and quality of life measurements for virtual patients at 1 and 3 months have been in line with in-person patients, the organization said.

Also in the release, Hazelden Betty Ford announced its intention to support the state’s school systems by expanding into higher grade-level student services, and also make its professional education consultants available to collaborate with treatment centers, hospitals, health systems and other recovery organizations, along with state health officials, to implement additional virtual care options.