Outpatient addiction recovery to expand through MarillacHealth | Health and Wellness

Marillac is a Federally Qualified Community Health Center, which is a comprehensive care provider (medical, dental and behavioral health) that offers sliding-scale fees to an underserved area through federal funding and increased Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

The fiscal award is part of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s $240 million funding initiative, distributed nationwide among 400 community mental health centers.

MarillacHealth Behavioral Health Director Elise Rediger said the funds will expand substance use disorder services in the outpatient setting with consideration to the role mental health challenges typically play.

“Show me somebody that struggles with alcohol use disorder that doesn’t meet criteria for anxiety and depression,” Rediger said. “Those numbers are going to be extremely low, so the whole idea of integrating substance use disorder services into standard common practice is a no-brainer for me.”

According to the 2023 Mesa County Suicide Report, 70% of suicide deaths and 30% of suicide-related emergency department visits last year involved drugs or alcohol.

MarillacHealth’s outpatient expansion will primarily consist of screenings, education, medicine-assisted rehab and behavioral health services that consider whole-health rather than one symptom at a time.

Rediger said the outpatient approach is beneficial because it is more proactive than someone ignoring their substance use until it spirals to the point of requiring inpatient rehabilitation.

With that approach, residents can continue their lives without the added stress of missing work or the stigma of being institutionalized.

For example, patients struggling with alcohol abuse would be able to obtain Vivitrol, a once-a-month injection that reduces the likelihood of relapse by mitigating withdrawal. Rather than being committed for a period of time to rehabilitate, the patient would only have to visit a MarillacHealth clinic once a month.

She said outpatient treatment fills a major gap in the services that follow inpatient recovery.

“If you’re actively intoxicated or actively in withdrawal, you need to be in an inpatient place to detox in a safe way,” Rediger said. “However, once you get through that period, there’s always been a gap of ‘Where do I go next? Oh, I’m good,’ but then we have those receptors in our brain saying, ‘I’m really angry, mad and I can’t even function or think straight without this substance.’”

The federal funds will fill that gap by enabling MarillacHealth to purchase relapse prevention medication like Vivitrol and buprenorphine (for opioids), conduct staff-wide education on the signs of addiction, intoxication and withdrawal, implement a verbal substance use screening protocol and expand its urine screening panel to include addictive substances.

Those funds will also enable MarillacHealth to bolster its team of physicians specializing in mental health and substance use disorder. Rediger said the expanded workforce would allow MarillacHealth to increase its capacity to screen, treat and support the recovery of persons impacted by substance use.

Rediger said the capacity of its four public clinics will increase by at least 450 new mental health patients and 200 new substance use disorder patients over the next two years. According to her, it won’t take long before those patient slots are filled.

“Marketing is not really an issue for us,” Rediger said. “What has historically been a problem is … being able to fulfill the need of the community walking through the doors.”

According to a MarillacHealth press release, the expansion in services will not only benefit Mesa County residents but also the 20% of its patients who reside in the Montrose and Delta areas.

Those interested in scheduling an appointment for medical, dental and/or behavioral healthcare can call 970-200-1600.