Charlie Health, a virtual high-acuity behavioral health provider, has added a new substance use disorder (SUD) treatment program to its service offerings.

The program is catered to individuals whose primary need is SUD care, but may also have other co-occurring mental health needs.  

This new offering will be available to all patients and be supported by Charlie Health’s in-network integration with most major health plans and Medicaid in nine of the 37 states the company operates in. Charlie Health made a name for itself by offering virtual intensive outpatient programs (IOPs).

The virtual SUD treatment pathway consists of nine hours of weekly group therapy, as well as individual counseling and family sessions. It will also offer medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for teens and adults, including buprenorphine or naltrexone.

MAT methods are less prevalent in youth care and do not have the same supporting evidence as in adult SUD care. However, emerging research and ongoing studies unaffiliated with Charlie Health are pointing to strong use cases with positive outcomes for extended-release buprenorphine to treat youth with SUDs.

To help reinforce sustainable recovery outcomes, as part of its new program, Charlie Health will partner with You Are Accountable, an online peer-coaching platform that provides coaching and home-based drug and alcohol screening for individuals recovering from SUDs.

Noticing its strong outcome trend for mental health patients who already presented with SUDs, with 94% of clients who completed treatment with Charlie Health for three months not requiring readmission to a higher level of care, the organization felt it was a critical step to launch a sub-track program to tailor care to this population even more specifically.

“For us, the outcome piece is really the most important. We’re episodic care. We have a start date and end date. We want to make sure that once they leave our care that they have lifelong healing. We track while they’re in treatment with us the decrease in alcohol use, decrease in substance use, abstinence rates, things like that,” Carter Barnhart, CEO and co-founder of Charlie Health, told Behavioral Health Business. “It’s one thing to get well while you’re in treatment with us, but we want to make sure that you’re well post-treatment with us. That’s why we were so proud of the 94% of clients who did not readmit back into a treatment facility.”

Even before the launch of this specialty treatment track, Charlie Health documented an 84% decrease in its patients’ opioid use, an 80% decline in alcohol usage and 70% reduction in self-harm and suicidal ideation.

The pathway will provide patients with psychological education and skill-building practice related to substance use, like relapse prevention and emotional regulation. Combining that with measurable and clinical approaches as well as accountability tools will ensure care is coordinated throughout treatment and in line with patient progress, regardless of if they are using a medication-assisted treatment approach or not, according to the press release.

The intensive virtual-based SUD treatment program will build on those outcomes and tailor treatment to align with personalized care needs by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to refine therapy in real-time, Barnhart explained.

“We’re collecting hundreds of data points upon admission and throughout the treatment process, and we’re refining that to make sure that we have the right people who we can group together where there’s equal talking time, where people are engaged appropriately and where they’re receiving appropriate support,” Barnhart said. “We know that treatment can’t just be one size fits all. At an in-person facility, you’re limited to who’s there. That can often lead to a mismatch in the group and group cohesion. We’re constantly using AI to make sure that we have the best possible group fit cohesion, and then that we are delivering better and better curriculum for that group every day.”

Keeping the new SUD program entirely virtual, like its other high-acuity therapy services, also lowers barriers to accessing SUD treatment, which is critical when only 6% of the more than 46 million Americans with substance use issues receive treatment for their conditions, according to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

“In general, people deserve recovery that fits their lifestyle,” Barnhart said to BHB. “I think that while medication-assisted treatment is amazing, there are so many companies that provide just MAT. I think our integration with therapy is a really important piece. The group therapy plus MAT, plus individual and family therapy will provide a more holistic recovery experience.”

Over time, with each new client in the SUD program, Charlie Health will use AI to continue to hyper-personalize treatment pathways and to continuously adapt its approach to substance use disorder treatment.

“The more and more clients that we serve, the better our curriculum becomes and the better the group experience becomes,” Barnhart said. “It will be a constant iteration process where we’ll be able to really use AI-powered tools to ensure that we’re delivering the highest quality care.”