Admissions at TMC Rehab

Outcomes research on residential treatment shows that length of stay and continuity of care after discharge are the two strongest predictors of one-year sobriety. The 2019 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that patients who complete 90 days of care (residential + outpatient combined) have roughly 2x the one-year sobriety rate of those who complete 30 days or less. At TMC, our average length of care — residential plus step-down PHP/IOP — is 112 days.

The evidence is strong and has been for more than two decades. A 2014 meta-analysis in the Journal of Addiction Medicine found that buprenorphine-based MAT reduces all-cause mortality in opioid use disorder patients by roughly 50% compared to abstinence-only approaches. For alcohol use disorder, naltrexone has been shown in multiple RCTs to reduce heavy-drinking days by approximately 25–30%. At TMC, our medical director prescribes MAT when clinically appropriate — which, for many opioid and alcohol patients, is routinely the right call.

Yes — substantially. Research in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment consistently shows that integrated dual diagnosis treatment produces significantly better one-year outcomes than sequential or parallel treatment. For patients with co-occurring PTSD, trauma-focused CBT adjunctive to substance use treatment has been shown to improve both PTSD symptoms and substance use outcomes in multiple controlled studies. Given that 60%+ of our residential patients have a co-occurring psychiatric condition, integrated dual diagnosis care is the clinical default here, not a specialty track.

Under the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, most major insurance plans are required to cover substance use treatment at parity with medical/surgical benefits. In practice, this means detox, residential, PHP, and IOP are typically covered when medically necessary. Our benefits team verifies each patient's specific coverage — including Medi-Cal, Medicare, Aetna, BCBS, United, Cigna, and others — usually within the same business day.

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) studies and subsequent research have shown a dose-response relationship between early-life trauma and adult substance use disorder: patients with 4+ ACEs have roughly 5x the risk of alcohol use disorder and 10x the risk of injection drug use compared to patients with 0 ACEs. Trauma-informed care isn't a modality; it's an organizational stance that every interaction — from intake to nursing to discharge — accounts for the trauma history most patients carry. At TMC, every staff member is trained in trauma-informed practice.

We track 30-day, 90-day, 6-month, and 12-month sobriety rates, quality-of-life indicators (employment, housing, relationship stability), and patient-reported experience measures. We review outcomes data quarterly with our clinical leadership and adjust protocols based on what the data shows. We're not a research institution, but we treat outcome measurement as a clinical responsibility — it's the only way to know whether the care we deliver actually works.