Community Medical Center adds medical detox program for recovery

MISSOULA, Mont. — Community Medical Center launched a new inpatient medical detox program in Missoula to help address substance use in Montana.

The hospital said its Step One service offered a three-to-five-day acute withdrawal management program for adults dealing with alcohol or opioid dependence. It also accepted self-referrals and was designed to help people safely start recovery with medical support.

Hospital leaders said the program filled a gap for people who ended up in the emergency room after an overdose or other complications and did not know how to find treatment.

“It’s definitely a community need. It’s something you know, when a patient with, when a patient overdoses, or you know, has complications of that illness, they’re, you know, they end up in our emergency room, they don’t really have a place to go, don’t know how to seek treatment or access the system, and this is a more structured, formal way for patients to get in the door, do,” CEO Greg Cook said.

Community Medical Center said most insurance plans covered the program, including Medicare and Medicaid. The service also included individualized discharge plans to support long-term recovery.

For people outside Missoula, the hospital said eight clinics across the state also offered this addiction treatment approach. Those locations included Kalispell, Missoula and Billings.