Business Briefs: BHG, Regard Recovery, JourneyPure, Spero Health, Column Health, GIA Miami

Behavioral Health Group, a multistate outpatient opioid treatment and recovery company, announced on Thursday that it is expanding into Minnesota by acquiring all 4 Valhalla Place opioid treatment program locations owned and operated by Meridian Behavioral Health. The 4 locations employ 185 clinicians, counselors and staff, and serve more than 3,000 OUD patients in the Twin Cities area each year. With its acquisition of the Valhalla properties, BHG now operates 89 treatment facilities and 2 labs across 19 states.

As part of the deal, BHG also acquires an in-house lab that provides urine drug screens for all Valhalla Place locations. Meridian and Valhalla Place’s Brian Sowada joins BHG as a regional director for Minnesota.

In a news release announcing the transaction, BHG chief medical officer Ben Nordstrom, MD, PhD, said the company plans to build out and implement its care model to expand the range of treatment services offered at the Valhalla centers.

Regard Recovery Announces Deal to Acquire JourneyPure

Regard Recovery has acquired JourneyPure, a Nashville-based drug and alcohol treatment provider with 17 residential and outpatient facilities in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida, according to a news release published on Wednesday. The move expands Regard Recovery’s mental health and treatment provider network, which includes programs in Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia.

Eli Schwarcz will remain CEO of Regard Recovery, joined on the company’s executive team by chief operating officer Brett McGennis and Charles Adams, president of Regard’s inpatient division and marketing.

Spero Health Opening 2 Additional Clinics in Kentucky

Spero Health announced openings for 2 new addiction treatment clinics in Kentucky. The first, located in Clarkson, opened on Oct. 28, and the second, in Lebanon, is slated to open in mid-November. The new programs join a Spero portfolio that includes more than 60 locations across Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, and Virginia.

In a news release, Spero said the locations for the 2 newest clinics were chosen to target currently underserved populations, noting that Kentucky has had a 50% increase in unintentional drug overdose deaths in the past year, fueled largely by a rise in illicit fentanyl.

Column Health Adds Clinic in Massachusetts

Column Health, which operates a network of outpatient mental health and addiction clinics in Massachusetts and Connecticut, has opened a new facility in Brockton, Massachusetts. Column Health programs offer medication-assisted treatment, psychotherapy, integrated lab test, detoxification, and medication management services in its clinical settings, which are augmented by additional telehealth-based offerings.

GIA Miami Adds Sister Clinic for Drug and Alcohol Treatment

GIA Miami has announced the opening of a new sister clinic. Vita Recovery is a 5,000-square-foot partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient drug and alcohol treatment facility. The clinic is led by Dr. Anto Bonci and Francesco Del Governatore, executive chairman and CEO, who along with Roberto Ciapparelli, are owners of GIA.

While the GIA practice is built on transcranial magnetic stimulation as a treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, Vita Recovery will specialize in structured outpatient and PHP services for drug and alcohol addiction treatment. Vita’s PHP involves individual and group therapy, psychiatric consultations, and therapeutic activities, with clinical services delivered to patients for 6 hours per day, 5 days per week.