CleanSlate Blog

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.

A recent report from the  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that Ohio suffered the second-highest number of opioid-involved deaths per capita in 2017.

Springfield, located approximately midway between Dayton and Columbus, saw its overdose death rate double between 2014 and 2017, partially due to the increased prevalence of synthetic drugs like fentanyl. It now ranks third among Ohio counties in overdose death rate.

Despite seeing an increase in the number of addiction treatment providers in Ohio, many organizations leading the State’s efforts to address the opioid epidemic in Ohio, including the State Attorney General’s Office and multiple health systems, agree that there continues to be a shortage of providers delivering quality, evidence-based, outpatient medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services.

CleanSlate is responding to this need by expanding its operations to treat opioid and alcohol addictions in Ohio. The company is opening a new outpatient MAT center in Springfield, CleanSlate’s third center in the state.

Located at 1416 W 1^st St., CleanSlate’s Springfield center opened its doors to patients today. CleanSlate participates in-network with most Medicaid and commercial providers in Ohio so that Springfield patients can be treated with minimal or no financial burden.

CleanSlate Centers, a national leader in outpatient addiction medicine, opened its doors to patients in Warsaw, Indiana today with a new outpatient medication-assisted treatment center. Located at 2936 Frontage Road, the physician-led center continues CleanSlate’s push to expand resources for addiction treatment in Indiana, including rural and underserved communities. 

Between 2016 and 2017, Indiana experienced a 22.5% increase in overdose deaths, the sharpest rise of any state in the country, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 

“Despite the tremendous need for high-quality, affordable addiction treatment in smaller communities like Warsaw, we have found that many providers are being pulled towards more populous areas in Indiana,” said Rachael Thompson, CleanSlate’s Regional Managing Director. “We at CleanSlate are eager to fill the treatment gaps in Warsaw and join this community’s battle to save lives that hang in the balance.”

CleanSlate Centers, a national leader in outpatient addiction medicine, continues its expansion in Indiana with the opening of a medication-assisted treatment center in New Albany. Located at 811 Northgate Blvd., the New Albany center opened its doors to patients last week.

CleanSlate’s decision to open a center in the southern part of Indiana was driven by the outpouring of patients who were traveling across state lines to receive treatment at the company’s center in Louisville, Kentucky. The New Albany center sits on the opposite side of the Ohio River from CleanSlate’s Louisville center.

“Even though CleanSlate has many centers throughout Indiana, we still had a huge number of patients who were leaving the state to see us in Kentucky,” said Rachael Thompson, CleanSlate’s Regional Director of Operations for Indiana and Kentucky. “We recognized an urgent need to expand access to responsible, affordable treatment for the people of Southern Indiana.”