CleanSlate Blog

Despite the fact that Kentucky has the fifth highest drug overdose death rate in the U.S., treatment options are scarce, even in the state’s more urban areas. Owensboro may be the fourth largest city in Kentucky, but its residents who suffer from addiction have few places to turn for treatment.

CleanSlate is addressing this shortage with a new outpatient center for medication-assisted treatment (MAT). This marks CleanSlate’s third center in Kentucky, joining others in Louisville, S. Louisville, and Lexington. Located at 3500 Villa Pointe Road, Suite 110, the Owensboro center opens its doors to patients today.

Many communities across America have no local treatment options for people suffering from addiction. Cincinnati, Ohio, is not one of those communities. The city has many treatment providers, and yet the numbers are still inadequate to handle the local need in the third-largest city in one of states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic.  

Montgomery County, Ohio, anchored by Dayton, recently earned national headlines for its plummeting rate of overdose deaths, down 54 percent over the past year.

But despite the increase of addiction treatment providers in Ohio, many organizations leading the state’s efforts to address the epidemic, including the State Attorney General’s Office and multiple health systems, agree that providers delivering quality, evidence-based, outpatient medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services are in short supply. 

CleanSlate is addressing this imbalance with a new MAT center in Moraine, a section of Montgomery County that is south of Dayton. The outpatient center, located at 4700 North Springboro Pike, Suite C, began seeing patients this week.   

What do you do when you’re struggling with an addiction but most high-quality, affordable treatment providers are 80 miles away?

Long distances create overwhelming barriers to recovery, making treatment all but impossible for most people. For people who live in a “treatment desert,” the lack of hope for recovery breeds more addiction and further despair.

Such has been the case in Richmond, Indiana, which offers few treatment options to residents. CleanSlate has tipped this grim equation with a new outpatient medication-assisted treatment (MAT) center in Richmond, located at 2302 Chester Blvd., Suite A.  

Amongst the many barriers that separate people with addiction from life-saving treatment is this: insurance.

In most parts of the country, evidence-based addiction treatment is scarce. Even scarcer are high-quality treatment providers that accept public or private insurance. This shortage forces people into miserable choices: use cash to pay for treatment, which can become costly; drive long distances to providers that do accept coverage; or try to survive with low-quality treatment...or none at all.

Such is the dilemma in Greencastle, Indiana. Local providers don’t accept insurance, and the nearest providers that do are an hour away, in Indianapolis.

Until now.  

CleanSlate, a national provider of outpatient addiction medicine, has opened a new medication-assisted treatment (MAT) center in Greencastle, located at 833 Indianapolis Road, Suite E.

As with so much of the country, the toll of the opioid epidemic in Greenwood, Indiana is outpacing the number of high-quality medication-assisted treatment (MAT) providers who are available to treat patients suffering from addiction.

Johnson County ranks 13th among counties in Indiana for opioid overdoses, and Greenwood is the largest city in the county. But MAT treatment has lagged, with limited providers in the area forcing many patients to travel long distances. Many of the providers in the market who do prescribe buprenorphine and naltrexone operate substandard practices and accept cash only.

That’s why CleanSlate is proud to join forces with Valle Vista Health System to integrate medication treatment with mental health and addiction treatment services for residents of Greenwood and the surrounding areas. The new center is located on the Valle Vista campus at 65 Airport Parkway in Greenwood.

This week, the state of Ohio has been observing a Week of Appreciation to Honor Heroes Fighting the Opioid Epidemic.

We at CleanSlate know a thing or two about the frontlines of Ohio’s opioid epidemic. CleanSlate operates three outpatient treatment centers for opioid and other substance addictions in Ohio; in Springfield, Lewis Center, and Columbus. A fourth Ohio center in Dayton is scheduled to open at the end of May. 

But we don’t think of ourselves as heroes. Warriors for Hope, yes. But heroes?

That would be our patients.

I recently had the privilege of meeting Bradley Helton, the caring owner of The Bradley Center in South Louisville, KY. Located in one of the zip codes hit hardest by the opioid epidemic in Kentucky, the Bradley Center offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and wraparound services for opioid addiction.

Brad and the facility he runs are beacons of hope amidst an area plagued by overdose deaths. But because of the onerous hurdles to qualify for state credentialing, the Bradley Center could only provide services on a cash basis.

Two months later, CleanSlate has acquired the Bradley Center and can now offer coverage for its services through Medicaid or commercial insurance.

What that means for patients is profound.

This isn’t a corporate story about an acquisition. It’s a human story about the costs of treatment and the challenges facing small businesses and individuals to offer and receive life-saving care.

Jefferson County is a battlefield for the opioid epidemic.

The county has the highest number of overdose deaths in Kentucky, a state considered to be one of the ‘ground zero’ regions for the opioid epidemic. 

Despite the area’s high death rate, few addiction treatment resources are available to residents, with almost no medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services. The few treatments centers that do exist rarely accept insurance. 

A new partnership hopes to fill that void.

CleanSlate Outpatient Addiction Medicine, a national medical leader in MAT services, has acquired The Bradley Center, a popular local treatment center, to expand access to high-quality MAT services in Louisville.  

“The compassionate work being done by The Bradley Center resonates with our core values. The combined expertise of our two teams at the Bradley Center’s current location will reduce barriers to treatment across Southern Louisville,” said Anthony Belott, Chief Development Officer of CleanSlate.

One of the most significant barriers to treatment is insurance, with many providers operating on a cash-only basis.

“This region is in critical need of more comprehensive treatment options that accept insurance,” said Bradley Helton, owner of The Bradley Center. “Some of our patients had to leave because we were a cash clinic. CleanSlate participates in-network with most Medicaid and commercial plans in Kentucky, and we'll be bringing this access to The Bradley Center. We're thrilled to offer this benefit to patients, which will reduce the financial obstacles to treatment.”

In Lexington, KY, emergency rooms are increasingly flooded with patients who have suffered opioid-related overdoses. Eighty-two percent of the fatal overdoses in Fayette county involve opioids.

The county has responded by creating several innovative programs to increase access to treatment. This includes providing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in emergency rooms, with a referral to a long-term care MAT provider.

The only problem: Lexington hospitals don’t have enough high-quality providers to which they can hand off patients.

CleanSlate is addressing this treatment gap with a new physician-led MAT center in Lexington.

“Too many patients in Lexington can’t maintain recovery upon release from the ER because they aren’t receiving medication for their disease,” said Anthony Belott, CleanSlate's Chief Development Officer. “What ensues is a cycle of relapse and despair. We’re grateful to the Lexington community for welcoming CleanSlate so warmly so that together we can help patients reclaim hope.”

Located at 1500 Leestown Rd., Suite 110, CleanSlate’s outpatient center to treat opioid and alcohol addictions will open its doors to patients on March 26th. CleanSlate participates in-network with most Medicaid and commercial providers in Kentucky so that Lexington patients can be treated with minimal or no financial burden.