Groups Recover Together Appoints COO, Chief Expansion Officer As It Ramps Up Growth

Groups Recover Together, which is in the midst of an ambitious nationwide expansion, is supporting those efforts with the addition of two new members to its C-suite.

The Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider — known also as “Groups,” and which treats 9,000 members across 13 states for opioid use disorder (OUD) — has appointed Matt Levesque to the positions of president and chief operating officer, and promoted Emily Alexanderson to the role of chief expansion officer.

A health care industry veteran, Levesque has previously been a senior vice president of technology enabled services for athenahealth, a records and billing management company. He has also been a past CEO for Waltham, Massachusetts-based computer software company connectRN, along with having served as a board member for Boston-area company MAS Medical Staffing.

“Groups has a proven treatment model that has already made a positive impact on thousands of lives,” Levesque said in a press release issued by the company. “In the coming months we’ll be focusing on increasing access to that quality OUD treatment and meeting individuals where they are in their journey to recovery. I’m so honored to be part of it.”

Alexanderson has been with Groups since September 2019 and is being elevated from her current role of vice president of operations and expansion.

Alexanderson has previously been the head of specialized banking for Santander Bank as well as having been a global markets associate for the Royal Bank of Scotland (now known as NatWest Group). Like Levesque, Alexanderson has past experience at athenahealth, having risen through the ranks to become its chief of staff and senior manager of strategic planning and operations.

“Their appointment comes at a crucial moment for our organization as we build upon a year of growth and evolve to meet the increased need right now for quality, outcomes-driven addiction treatment,” Groups CEO Colleen Nicewicz said in the press release. “We look forward to having them on our leadership team and further scaling our mission to combat America’s opioid epidemic by destigmatizing addiction, and by providing life-saving treatment to all who need it.”

Founded in 2014, Groups has over 70 physical locations but has switched solely to virtual treatment during the pandemic. Groups — which accepts a variety of insurances across different states — provides medication-assisted treatment (MAT) drugs like buprenorphine for OUD along with facilitating weekly meetings led by counselors.

Groups plans to be in 15 states by the end of 2021 — up from 10 at the beginning of this year — and is planning to enter six more states by the end of next year.

Groups’ care delivery model is built entirely around value-based treatment, which providers across the behavioral health spectrum have been moving more towards for reimbursement.

“We have the benefit of being able to provide exactly the care folks need exactly when they need it through these value-based arrangements,” Nicewicz told Behavioral Health Business in a May interview. “We have had the ability to run our care model, which combines medication-assisted treatment, group counseling and the community element. The three of those things together provide really, really great member outcomes.

Groups netted $60 million in a May Series C funding round that was led by Oak HC/FT, and which included participation from existing investors such as Optum Ventures and Kaiser Permanente Ventures.