New Addiction Treatment Option for South Jersey Veterans

SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY — The Wilmington VA Medical Center (VAMC) and Maryville Addiction Treatment Center of New Jersey announced a new partnership to expand substance abuse treatment for veterans in South Jersey. Maryville is now part of the VA’s Choice provider network of care. When VA may not have timely access to care, or when a veteran has a significant travel burden to get to a VA facility, Maryville can provide short stay medical detox care and short stay inpatient treatment for a variety of addictions.
“Strategic partnerships with community veterans’ organizations and private sector health care providers like Maryville are vital to accomplishing our mission to honor America’s veterans and provide timely, exceptional health care to improve their health and well-being”, said Bob Callahan, interim director of the Wilmington VAMC.
“The demand for intensive outpatient and inpatient substance abuse treatment continues to increase, both among veterans and in the private sector,” said Kim Sivak, associate chief of staff for behavioral health services at the Wilmington VAMC.
“These partnerships are vital to a new practice model,” said Vince Kane, Wilmington VAMC interim associate director for operations. “We share a commitment to expand local care options in south Jersey and these strategic partnerships allow us to take the best of what VA does and blend it with more accessible care in the community. Both VA and the community partner can practice together in a single model of care, expanding service and ultimately improving the veteran’s quality of life. This particular partnership will enable us to swiftly provide services to veterans in need when they reach out for help from the devastating grip of addiction.”
Maryville Addiction Treatment Center is recognized as a leader in the treatment of addictive disease and co-occurring disorders. Maryville’s inpatient, medically monitored detoxification and residential programs are located on 40 wooded acres in rural Gloucester County, providing a serene, natural environment conducive to the full recovery of mind, body and spirit. Maryville’s neighborhood-based outpatient facilities located in Cumberland and Gloucester counties are easily accessible and provide the opportunity for community-based recovery.
The Choice program was created in 2014 to provide care in the community to veterans when VA services were not available or timely, and to prevent veterans from having to travel long distances to VA facilities. The Choice program is managed by a third-party administrator under a national contract. Local VA facilities were also given the ability to establish local provider agreements with private health care organizations in 2016. VA is then able to schedule services on its own when the Choice third-party administrators are unable to schedule for services in a timely manner or the needed services are not covered in the national contract.