Frequently Asked Questions

Quickly, and always within the timeframe your state and level of care require. Our standard is to complete evaluations within 24 hours of admission for detox and residential programs, and within 72 hours for outpatient programs. When a state regulation, accreditation standard, or your own facility policy calls for a faster timeline, we meet that requirement instead.

Responsiveness is built into The Recovery Doctor model. Delayed evaluations hold up medication management, stall treatment planning, and leave clients and staff waiting. During onboarding, we confirm the evaluation requirements that apply to your license, levels of care, and accreditation, then set clear timelines with your team so everyone knows when to expect the next clinical decision.

Our onboarding process is designed to be efficient and streamlined. Once your organization is ready to move forward, we’ll provide a clear checklist of what’s needed before launch, such as EHR access, ePrescribing, and lab setup.

Our team can begin implementation as early as the same day your facility completes its required items. Most setup steps take 24–72 hours, and overall timing depends on your EHR platform, lab setup, and any state-specific compliance requirements.

Throughout the process, our team works closely with your leadership to establish workflows, coordinate clinical coverage, and ensure a smooth transition, whether you’re replacing an existing provider group, launching a new program, or expanding services.

We are designed to function as an extension of your treatment team, not as an outside provider completing isolated services. To achieve seamless integration, our providers work directly within your existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) system—uploading note templates, handling e-prescriptions, and documenting care natively so your team has real-time visibility into every clinical update.

Our physicians actively participate in multidisciplinary collaboration with therapists, nurses, clinical directors, case managers, and executive leadership, while also partnering with your admissions team to ensure swift client evaluations and smooth onboarding. Additionally, your facility gets direct access to our dedicated support team, providing responsive medical leadership whenever clinical questions arise, patient presentations change, or urgent coordination is required.

Yes. Our medical and psychiatric providers can deliver services via telehealth, giving your organization access to qualified providers without geographic or scheduling limitations. Telehealth is especially valuable for organizations that need specialized expertise, consistency across multiple sites, or more flexibility in how medical services are delivered.

The right mix of telehealth and other provider services depends on your level of care, state requirements, and clinical needs. We work with each partner to design a model that supports both quality care and efficient operations.

We understand that behavioral health admissions do not always happen on a predictable schedule. Access to timely medical review can influence how efficiently an appropriate client moves from inquiry or referral into treatment.

Admissions coverage and approval workflows are established with each organization based on its program, level of care, operational needs, and agreed-upon service model. Our focus is on creating a responsive process that supports admissions while maintaining appropriate clinical review and decision making.

For organizations providing substance use disorder treatment, ASAM criteria can play an important role in assessing patient needs, determining appropriate levels of care, supporting treatment planning, and documenting continued service needs.

The Recovery Doctor’s addiction medicine providers work collaboratively with treatment teams to support clinically appropriate assessment, documentation, and medical decision making within the organization’s treatment model. This helps connect physician involvement with the broader clinical criteria used to guide substance use disorder treatment.

The Recovery Doctor partners with a broad spectrum of behavioral healthcare providers—including detox and residential treatment centers, mental health programs, Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), emerging startups, established organizations, and multi-site networks.

Recognizing that no two facilities operate identically, we customize each medical partnership around your program’s specific clinical workflows and operational goals. Whether you are establishing your initial medical infrastructure or seeking to drive consistency across multiple locations, we tailor our support to ensure your practice thrives.

Yes. One of The Recovery Doctor’s primary differentiators is providing psychiatry and addiction medicine under one roof, allowing treatment centers to coordinate both services through one clinical partner.

Our psychiatric services include comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, diagnosis and treatment of co-occurring mental health conditions, ongoing medication management, and psychiatric follow-up care throughout a patient’s treatment stay. Providers can assess existing medication regimens, initiate or adjust psychiatric medications when clinically appropriate, monitor effectiveness and side effects, and collaborate with the treatment team as patient needs evolve.

Our addiction medicine services include initial medical evaluations, withdrawal assessment and detox management, medication management, ongoing medical follow-ups, and medications for addiction treatment when clinically appropriate. Providers can support patients throughout the withdrawal and stabilization process, monitor symptoms and response to treatment, and adjust medications based on the patient’s clinical presentation.

Our team includes physicians and advanced practice providers with expertise across these disciplines, including dual-certified physicians in psychiatry and addiction medicine. This integrated model is especially valuable for patients with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders, reducing unnecessary handoffs, simplifying provider coordination, and creating greater continuity of care from initial evaluation through ongoing treatment.

A medical director should do more than fill a required position. The Recovery Doctor provides physicians who serve as true medical leaders, engaged in your program, invested in your outcomes, and working alongside your team.

Our medical directors support your organization across clinical oversight, policy and procedure development, documentation standards, regulatory and accreditation readiness, staff guidance and training, and interdisciplinary treatment team collaboration. They help strengthen the medical side of your operations so your clinical team can focus on delivering excellent care.

The result is a medical director who becomes a trusted clinical resource for your leadership and staff, not just a name on a license.

The Recovery Doctor was built specifically for behavioral health and substance use treatment organizations, combining clinical care, operational infrastructure, and compliance expertise designed for the treatment center environment.

We provide psychiatry and addiction medicine through one integrated team, including psychiatric evaluations, medication management, medical evaluations, detox and withdrawal management, and ongoing follow-up care.

Our team brings deep expertise in ASAM criteria, The Joint Commission standards, state-specific regulations, accreditation requirements, and behavioral healthcare compliance. This expertise is built into our clinical workflows, documentation practices, provider processes, and facility-specific protocols.

Beyond individual patient visits, we integrate with facility teams, coordinate provider coverage, adapt to existing workflows, and maintain continuity as patient and facility needs evolve.

The result is more than access to a provider. It is a scalable clinical partnership backed by behavioral health, addiction medicine, operational, and compliance expertise.

Yes. Strong medical documentation is central to quality care, and it is also what payers rely on to approve and continue treatment. Our providers complete thorough, timely documentation that accurately reflects each patient’s presentation, acuity, progress, risks, and ongoing clinical needs.

Depending on your services and level of care, this includes:

  • Admission assessments: History and physicals, psychiatric evaluations, and detox medical evaluations completed within required timeframes.
  • Withdrawal monitoring: Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) and Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment (CIWA) scoring, documented alongside the medical decision-making behind each treatment adjustment.
  • Progress notes: Notes showing current symptoms, response to treatment, and the clinical reasons for continued care at the current level.
  • Medication management: The rationale for starting, adjusting, or discontinuing medications, including medications for opioid and alcohol use disorder.

Medical necessity is supported when documentation clearly connects a patient’s symptoms and risks to the level of care being provided. Our providers write with that connection in mind, which gives your utilization review and billing teams the clinical detail they need for authorizations, concurrent reviews, and reimbursement.

Yes. Our model can support individual programs as well as growing and established multi-site behavioral health organizations.

As organizations expand, maintaining consistent provider communication, medical workflows, documentation standards, and clinical expectations becomes increasingly important. An integrated medical partnership can help create a more scalable infrastructure while reducing the need to manage disconnected provider relationships at every location.

Yes. If we aren’t currently active in your state, we’ll need some additional time before launch to complete provider licensure, review state regulations and requirements, and put the right resources in place. Contact our team to discuss your location and needs, and we’ll walk you through what to expect.

Yes. Involving medical leadership early can be particularly valuable when launching a new behavioral health program.

The Recovery Doctor can collaborate with organizational leadership as clinical workflows, medical services, documentation expectations, communication processes, and operational systems are being developed. Establishing the medical infrastructure early can help organizations build more scalable systems instead of addressing gaps after the program is already operating.

Getting started begins with a conversation about your organization. We want to understand your location, levels of care, patient population, existing medical structure, current challenges, anticipated census, growth plans, and what you need from a medical partner.

From there, we can explore a partnership model built around your clinical and operational needs. Whether you are launching a program, replacing an existing provider structure, expanding into another state, or looking for more responsive medical support, the first step is to contact The Recovery Doctor and talk with our team.