NCAD East Champion: Doug Tieman

After 4 decades in the field, including a recently concluded 26-year tenure as the CEO of Caron Treatment Centers, Doug Tieman says he is grateful to have played a part in substance use treatment evolving from what he calls “a curious sideline industry” to a bona fide medical field with measurable outcomes.

Tieman retired from Caron earlier this year, but his legacy within the organization—and the field as a whole—will live on in a number of ways, and for his efforts, he was recognized on Saturday at the National Conference on Addiction Disorders East as an NCAD Champion for 2021.

From the time Tieman took over as CEO, Caron has grown from a $13 million company in 1995 to a $150 million organization as of June 2021.

Caron’s flagship campus in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, has doubled in size and added the 47,000-square-foot Carole and Ray Neag Medical Center. The company has built treatment facilities in Florida, and several outpatient programs along the East Coast. Another medical center, the $60 million, 95,000-square-foot Keele Center in Florida, is in the works.

In the past quarter-century, the company has gone from having 1 part-time physician available for 1 hour per day to a team of 12 physicians in Pennsylvania, 3 in Florida, and a dozen more to be hired once the Keele Center facility opens. Caron has expanded its number of educational partnerships from 5 schools in Berks County, Pennsylvania, to more than 1,000 institutions.

“When you put it all together, the goal of all of this was to advance treatment,” Tieman says. “It’s great when we do follow-up and 75 to 80% of our patients are sober, but I still worry about the families who are part of the 20 to 25% who aren’t. I told our board that our land-on-the-moon vision needs to be to find a solution for everybody. People should not have to die from this illness. Our goal is, through brain chemistry and continuing to do research, find a protocol for everybody.”

That goal has led to the creation of the Fran and Doug Tieman Center for Research, which Caron announced in July. Caron has been doing research on the science of addiction since the 1990s, and over the past 5 years, the organization has been involved with about a dozen National Institutes of Health-involved projects. Now, that work will have a dedicated home in a facility that Tieman says he hopes to be remembered for most.

“The nice thing is when we launch this [research center], we aren’t starting from base zero,” Tieman says.

Tieman points to a pair of research initiatives already in the works at Caron:

• The company is currently developing a test to determine the likelihood of a patient’s genetic makeup making them more susceptible to addiction. Tieman says this could be especially useful as providers weigh different intervention options; if a patient is known to be more vulnerable to addiction, the provider will be more likely to pursue alternative pain relief options.
• Caron is also conducting research around studying the prefrontal cortex and determining whether that area of the brain has healed enough for a patient to make decisions necessary to stay sober.

In the year prior to Tieman’s arrival, Caron raised $500,000 in funds. Last year, Caron raised $20 million and during Tieman’s 26-year tenure, funds raised have totaled $212 million. That influx has been “an important part of our economic engine” that has facilitated the construction of new buildings and provide several million dollars’ worth of scholarships, Tieman says.

Tieman says one more source of pride is successfully executing a leadership transition to his successor, Bradley Sorte, who became Caron’s new CEO in July.

“I’ve seen a lot of transitions that did not go well and put organizations in a compromising position,” Tieman says. “I’m proud of how our board learned from those lessons and put together a seamless process. It’s important for the whole organization because it can be unsettling for staff and patients if you have this transition and the whole organization goes into upheaval. I’m thrilled with how we planned this.

“There was no difference between June 21st and October 21st. We’re still the same organization doing the same thing. Our entire leadership team stayed. That continuity, especially during this crazy world we’ve lived in the past year and a half, if you have that stability, it puts your organization ahead. It gives our alumni confidence, our donors, our communities and most importantly our employees who are there every day relating to patients. If they have worries or concerns, they can’t deliver care, and patients see that something is wrong. I’m proud the baton handoff went smoothly.”