RCA partners with group to lead medical operations in Danvers

Recovery Centers of America's (RCA's) Danvers, Mass., addiction treatment facility, which has undergone significant leadership changes this year, announced a partnership this month with a Massachusetts medical group that offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction and other outpatient behavioral health services.

Under the agreement with Square Medical Group (SMG), group founder Natalie Lender, MD, will serve as RCA-Danvers' medical director. A diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Lender has implemented a patient care model designed to blend psychiatric and internal medicine into a seamless platform. SMG was founded in 2008.

“Our partnership with SMG will allow us to provide an even greater array of behavioral health offerings to those in need,” RCA-Danvers CEO Laura Ames said in a news release announcing the partnership.

Ames tells Addiction Professional, however, that the appointment of Lender will not by definition increase the number of patients at RCA-Danvers who receive MAT for opioid dependence. She emphasizes Lender's overall wealth of experience in the treatment of substance use disorders.

RCA has explored the possibility of expanding MAT options in its overall menu of services in the organization, including perhaps by acquiring an opioid treatment program (OTP) license in order to be able to offer methadone treatment. RCA operates treatment facilities in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Ames was named CEO of RCA's Danvers facility in February. Admissions to the center resumed around that time, following a halt to admissions that was imposed last August by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health following two patient deaths at the center last year.