Medication-assisted treatment uses an FDA-approved medication to make not drinking easier to hold, prescribed and monitored by our own licensed clinical team.
Three medications are approved for alcohol use disorder. Which one suits you is settled at assessment, and the first dose is supervised.
Call +1-855-955-0771
Who is medication-assisted treatment for?
Anyone who has stopped drinking or is about to, and wants the first months to be less of a fight.
It suits you if you have relapsed before, if cravings are the thing that keeps undoing your progress, or if you have come through detox and want something holding the line while therapy does its work.
It also suits people who are not going into residential treatment at all. Medication plus outpatient counseling is a legitimate plan, not a lesser one.
It is not for everyone. If you are still drinking heavily and have physical symptoms when you stop, you need medical detox first. If you have significant liver disease or you are pregnant, the options narrow and a physician will tell you which are open on the first call.
Which medication will you be prescribed?
One of three, and the choice comes from your drinking pattern, your liver function and whether you have already stopped.
Naltrexone. Reduces how rewarding drinking feels, which cuts cravings and makes a slip less likely to become a return. Taken daily as a tablet. It suits you whether or not you have fully stopped, which is why it is the most common starting point.
Vivitrol. The same medicine as a monthly injection instead of a daily tablet. It suits anyone who does not want a daily decision, and anyone whose last attempt failed because tablets got skipped.
Acamprosate. Steadies the months after you stop. It suits you once abstinence is established and the goal is holding it. Taken three times a day.
Disulfiram. Makes drinking physically unpleasant, which puts a hard barrier between you and a decision made at nine in the evening. It suits people who want that barrier and who will take it consistently.
All three are approved by the FDA for alcohol use disorder, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism treats them as standard care rather than a last resort.
How do you get started on naltrexone?
Book an assessment, get bloods done, and start within a few days.
A clinician takes your drinking history and your medical history, and checks your liver function before prescribing. If you are still drinking, that is worth saying plainly on the call, because it changes the start date and not whether you are treated.
Your first dose is supervised. After that you are reviewed at set intervals so the prescription is adjusted against how you are actually doing.
Can you get the Vivitrol shot here?
Yes, and it is given by our clinical staff rather than sent to you with a prescription.
The injection is monthly. You need to have been off alcohol for a short period before the first one, and the assessment settles how long that is in your case.
People switch to the injection when daily tablets have not worked, and it is worth asking about directly if that is your history.
Tell admissions on the first call if you want the injection. It needs prior authorization from your insurer, we submit that for you, and knowing early means the benefit is verified before your assessment instead of after it.
How is your medication monitored?
Reviews at set intervals with a licensed prescriber, bloods repeated, and the prescription adjusted against how you are doing.
Monitoring is what separates medication assisted treatment from a bare prescription. Liver function is rechecked. Cravings are scored. If something is not suiting you it is changed instead of abandoned.
Prescribing and monitoring both sit inside our state licensure, and placement follows the ASAM criteria, the same framework your insurer uses when it authorizes the care. Ask admissions to confirm the license before you book. It is a public record and any licensed provider will give you the number.
Your prescriber talks to your therapist, so the medication and the outpatient work move together rather than running in parallel.
Does insurance cover medication-assisted treatment?
Almost always, and we verify your benefits while you are on the phone.
Federal parity law requires most health plans to cover substance use treatment on the same terms as physical health care, and these medications sit inside that benefit. What varies is your copay, whether the injection needs prior authorization, and whether we are in network for your plan.
Vivitrol needs prior authorization because of its cost. We handle that submission. Naltrexone tablets, acamprosate and disulfiram are generic and rarely an issue.
Where we are out of network we say so on the first call, and we tell you what a single case agreement would involve.
What does medication-assisted treatment cost?
Your copay on the prescription, plus the assessment and review appointments.
The tablets are generic and inexpensive. The monthly injection is the expensive one, which is why the authorization matters more there.
If you have no insurance, say so at the start. We have self-pay rates for the assessment and the reviews, and both figures come in writing before you commit to anything.
Can you do medication-assisted treatment without going to rehab?
Yes. Medication plus outpatient counseling is a complete plan for plenty of people.
You do not have to take time off work or live anywhere. Assessment, a prescription, scheduled reviews and weekly sessions is a real course of treatment, and it is what a lot of people actually need.
Admissions books the assessment and verifies the benefit on the same call. Discharge planning still applies: you finish with a written relapse prevention plan, a step-down schedule and an alumni contact, the same as anyone leaving an inpatient stay.
If an assessment shows you need more than that, we say so. Somebody with physical withdrawal needs detox first, and somebody who cannot stay sober where they live needs residential treatment.
What happens if a medication does not suit you?
It gets changed, and that is what the scheduled reviews are for.
There are three approved options and they work differently from each other. Not getting on with the first one tells the prescriber something useful about which to try next.
Tell us early. The common mistake is stopping a medication quietly and waiting until the next appointment to mention it.
How does medication fit with the rest of treatment?
Medication holds the cravings down while therapy deals with why you were drinking. Neither does the other one’s job.
Our non 12 step alcohol treatment pairs medication with cognitive behavioral therapy and relapse prevention planning, and it suits anyone for whom the steps were never going to work.
Both are covered under the same insurance benefit, so admissions verifies them together and you are admitted to one program instead of billed by two.
If depression or anxiety sits underneath the drinking, dual diagnosis treatment treats both in the same program, and your prescriber handles both sets of medication.
How do you start medication-assisted treatment?
Call +1-855-955-0771. We check your insurance on the call and book the assessment.
Tell us what you are already prescribed, what you have tried before, and whether you have stopped drinking yet. All three change what we recommend.
If you are calling about somebody else, say so at the start. Our intervention team gets the assessment booked and the insurance verified before you raise it with them.
What else do people ask about medication assisted treatment?
Can you get naltrexone without going to rehab?
Yes. An assessment, a liver function check and a prescription is a complete starting point, and plenty of people begin there and never need an inpatient stay.
How long do you stay on the medication?
Months rather than weeks, and the review appointments decide it. Coming off is planned rather than sudden.
Is Vivitrol better than naltrexone tablets?
It is the same medicine. The injection suits you if daily tablets are the thing that keeps failing, and the tablets suit you if you want to stop quickly without waiting for the month to run out.
Does insurance cover Vivitrol?
Yes, with prior authorization because of the cost. We submit that for you and tell you the answer before you start.
Can you take these medications while still drinking?
Naltrexone is started in that situation regularly. Disulfiram is not. Say honestly on the call where you are, because it changes which option opens first.
