Hazelden Betty Ford Forms Alliance with Emory Healthcare in Georgia

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation this week announced that it is partnering with Emory Healthcare, the largest healthcare system in the state of Georgia, to form the Addiction Alliance of Georgia, a venture that the two parties say is designed reduce addiction rates and improve rates of recovery.

Conceived by executives from Mohawk Industries, CNN and Hazelden Betty Ford in 2018, the alliance is seeking public and private community partners in the state to advance clinical care, education and research related to addiction. Alliance representatives will work with state behavioral health leaders to identify needs, prioritize goals, and align the alliance’s efforts with ongoing initiatives from the state’s departments of Public Health and Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, along with Grady Health System, Morehouse School of Medicine, Medical Association of Georgia and federally qualified health centers.

“Emory Healthcare is one of the premier academic medical centers in the country, and they have an exciting vision for their Brain Health Center,” Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Mark Mishek said in a statement to BHE. “We’re thrilled at Hazelden Betty Ford to be able to contribute our 71 years of experience treating substance use disorders to the work taking place there, and to collaborate on advancing clinical care as well as knowledge and practice within the entire health care field through research and education.

Some early initiatives will center around prevention work in Atlanta schools, training partnerships, and community-based workshops on reducing stigma. In 2021, the alliance will offer clinical services in Atlanta, with Hazelden providing management, training and operational support, and Emory staff delivering services.

Two phases for the partnership have been sketched out at launch. In the first phase, expected to last 3-5 years, the alliance will provide professional education within Emory’s system and with other partners in Georgia, and Hazelden’s Butler Center for Research will engage in collaborations with Emory as well. Phase 2 plans include a potential detox and residential addiction treatment facility on or near the Emory Brain Health Center campus.

“For decades, we have pursued a mission of helping as many people as possible, and with this partnership, we’re seeking to exponentially expand the reach and impact of both organizations – not just through direct clinical care but through collaborations with other public and private stakeholders throughout Georgia,” Mishek told BHE. “Because of the pre-eminence of our two brands and the capabilities of our organizations, it was a one-of-a-kind opportunity.”