Venezia: Hoag adds a touch of Betty Ford

Monday I went over to Hoag Hospital to take a peek at changes to its chemical dependency unit.

Not only is the building getting a face-lift, so is the hospital’s approach to addiction recovery.

To give you some background, Hoag has operated the 21-bed inpatient chemical dependency unit for many years. But about two or three years ago, the Chemical Dependency Recovery Center was brought under the umbrella of the Neurosciences Institute.

Dr. Michael Brant-Zawadzki, the institute’s executive medical director, said some addicts suffer from mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety, which they self-medicate with drugs and alcohol.

For years addiction was thought to be just a behavioral problem — that with strong will power one could overcome it. But now it’s time to tie mental health issues to recovery, Brant-Zawadzki said.

Neurobehavior Operations Director Marshall Moncrief said joining with the institute has reframed how addiction is viewed.

“It’s a disease of the decision-making areas of the brain,” he said, “and as a brain illness, this de-stigmatizes it.”

Two years ago Hoag hired consultants to study addiction recovery to better understand what the community at large was looking for and how Hoag could improve its approach to chemical dependency.

I shared some of my thoughts with the consultant as I had written numerous articles about issues residents had with rehab homes. I suggested there needed to be a safer alternative to the sober living homes proliferating in our community, and felt Hoag should develop a stronger presence here.

Since then I’ve kept tabs on Hoag’s progress as it revamped its approach to addiction treatment.

Now it’s ready to launch.

Simply stated, Hoag’s new program is an expansion of the Betty Ford concept — which has also brought in neuroscience.

As I toured the new facility, Moncrief explained that in addition to the 21 beds in detox, where patients spend an average of five days and which re-opens Aug. 1, the facility will have another 21 beds for residential care, which will start accepting patients in January.

“We are relocating our 21 medical detox beds to a more suitable part of the Hoag Hospital campus,” he said. “This new location will ensure the highest level of medical oversight for patients in detox and allow the patients and visiting families a serene environment to begin their recovery.”

The new area includes a spacious patio and garden overlooking Newport Harbor.

And Hoag is renovating its facility to be re-designated as a residential-licensed facility.

Once patients are detoxed, many times they can’t just return home, Moncrief said.

“This will be, to our knowledge, the only residential-licensed treatment program in California that feels and functions like a residential treatment program, but is co-located and fully integrated with an acute care hospital,” he said.

The new residential facility will not have a hospital feel. It will be close to Hoag’s emergency department and have 24-hour on-site security.

In the Hoag model, a patient’s physical and mental issues are evaluated.

The addict has access to all the comprehensive care the hospital offers, and his specific needs can be properly addressed, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all treatment concept of the past.

Hoag’s center can cost families upward of $30,000 for a month’s stay, and Moncrief and Brant-Zawadzki understand that it is competing with other rehab businesses in the area

Hoag is trying to bring the cost down to about $20,000 for a 30-day stay; some or all of it could be covered depending on a patient’s insurance. And that’s another advantage Hoag has: It deals with a wide range of insurance carriers.

Insurance companies are requesting shorter and shorter stays and pushing for outpatient treatment, Moncrief said. Hoag has adapted to this by making the inpatient stay shorter and focusing on an intensive outpatient program.

Moncrief and Brant-Zawadzki are excited and passionate about this new program.

Now that Hoag is affiliated with St. Joseph’s Health System, could this treatment model branch out to other hospitals in the network?

Moncrief said although Hoag’s is a pilot program, he hopes it will expand and perhaps change the concept of addiction treatment in general.

If that’s the case, maybe we’ll see fewer of these sketchy rehab home companies plaguing our communities.

BARBARA VENEZIA, whose column appears Fridays, lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.