About Westbrook Recovery
Westbrook Recovery explains addiction treatment options in the United States so that people can make a decision before they start making phone calls. We publish comparisons of levels of care, explanations of insurance coverage, and practical guides for families.
What we do not do
We do not operate treatment facilities. We do not sell placements or referrals, and we do not route calls to facilities on their behalf. We do not publish a directory of treatment centres, because that information is already maintained authoritatively by FindTreatment.gov, and a second copy of it adds nothing.
We are not affiliated with SAMHSA, the Joint Commission, or any government agency. Where we reference their material, we link to the source so you can read it yourself.
How pages are built
Every factual claim we make about clinical definitions, coverage rules or legal processes is checked against a primary source — federal agency material, published clinical criteria, or the plan documents of the insurer in question. Those sources are listed at the bottom of each page. When something varies by state or by plan and we cannot verify it generally, we say so rather than publishing a number that looks authoritative and is not.
Each page carries the date it was last checked. That date is set when the content is actually reviewed, not generated automatically on every visit.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, we want to fix it. Coverage rules, state statutes and clinical guidance all change, and pages drift out of date. Corrections that point to a source are the most useful kind.
Why this site exists
Search for almost any question about addiction treatment and the results are dominated by pages written to generate an admission. That is not a conspiracy, it is a business model: much of this sector pays per patient, and pages funded that way have a reason to present the most expensive level of care as the serious option and to make contacting someone feel urgent. The information is not necessarily false. It is selected.
What that leaves missing
The plain answers. What the levels of care actually differ on. Which withdrawals are medically dangerous and which are merely unpleasant. What a Cochrane review really concluded, including the scope conditions that get dropped in summary. Which federal rules changed in the last two years and which descriptions are now out of date.
What we do instead
We read the label, the regulation and the review, we count the federal treatment directory ourselves, and we publish both the figure and the method. Where something is unsettled we say so. Where a number varies by state or plan we say that too, rather than publishing an average that reads as a fact about your situation.
What we publish that nobody else does
Our own count of 10,233 US treatment facilities, pulled from the federal locator and deduplicated by name, street and ZIP. SAMHSA publishes the directory; it does not publish these proportions.
Availability, not marketing
85.4% of facilities offer outpatient care, 21.4% offer residential and 19.5% run medical detox. Those three numbers reframe most of the advice written about this field.
Medication access is regulatory
Buprenorphine is available at 59.2% of facilities and methadone at 13.7%, because methadone for opioid use disorder can only be dispensed through a certified programme.
Money has more routes than people think
83.4% accept Medicaid, 54.5% take state funding outside it and 40% run a sliding fee scale that is almost never mentioned unless asked for by name.
Who writes it
Researchers and writers, not clinicians
No doctor reviews this site and we do not claim otherwise. Sites in this field routinely display a clinician’s name and a review date on thousands of pages that clinician never saw; that is a trust signal manufactured rather than earned, and we would rather carry the disadvantage of saying what this actually is.
What that means for how we write
We report what public clinical sources say and show you where to read them. We do not give clinical opinions, recommend starting or stopping a medication, or suggest which programme a particular person should attend. Those belong with someone who knows the history \\u2014 and the point of these pages is to make that conversation start further along.
Where the method is written down
In full, on the methodology page \\u2014 including which sources we go to first, an error our own counting caught, and what we refuse to publish.
How this is funded
No placement fees, no referral commissions
We do not operate treatment facilities, we take no payment for sending anyone anywhere, and no facility pays to appear. If that ever changes, this page changes with it and the change carries a date.
No phone number of ours
The numbers on this site are federal helplines \\u2014 988 and the SAMHSA National Helpline \\u2014 and they reach nobody connected to us. A prominent number on a page like this usually routes to a call centre paid per admission.
No lead capture
There is no form asking for your details before showing you information, because there is nothing we would do with them. Analytics here are aggregate and we do not attempt to identify individual visitors.
If we got something wrong
Tell us, with the source if you have it
That is the fastest route to a fix. Corrections that change meaning get the date on the page changed with them, so a reader can see the page moved rather than discovering it silently.
Things go out of date here faster than usual
Federal rules for opioid treatment programmes were rewritten in 2024 for the first time in over twenty years, enforcement of updated confidentiality rules began in February 2026, and a 2024 insurance parity rule has been under non-enforcement since May 2025. Material written before those changes is still circulating and still being cited.
Start here
- Inpatient vs outpatient
- Detox vs rehab
- PHP vs IOP
- Suboxone vs methadone
- Naltrexone vs Suboxone
- Sober living vs halfway house
- 12-step vs non-12-step
- Getting someone into treatment
- Paying without insurance
- Rules once you are there
- Opioid withdrawal timeline
- Relapse warning signs
- What your plan covers
- How we research and publish
Sources we rely on
How this page was made
- Who wrote it:
- the Westbrook Recovery editorial team : researchers and writers, not clinicians. No doctor has reviewed this page, and we do not claim otherwise. What that means in practice: we report what public clinical sources say and show you where to read them, rather than offering a clinical opinion of our own.
- Checked against:
- 6 primary sources listed above: federal agency material and published clinical criteria. Where a figure varies by state, plan or facility, we say so instead of publishing a number that looks authoritative and is not.
- Original analysis:
- the facility proportions on this page are our own count of SAMHSA’s public directory. The full method is documented , including what we count, what we deliberately do not publish, and an error the approach caught. You can repeat the pull and check the numbers.
- Last reviewed:
- . This date changes when the content is actually re-checked, not automatically on every visit.
- What this page is not:
- a medical recommendation, a diagnosis, or a referral. Decisions about levels of care and medication belong with a clinician who knows your history. We do not operate facilities, take placement fees, or receive payment for sending anyone anywhere.
Questions we get asked
Are you a treatment provider?
No. We do not operate facilities, employ clinicians or admit anyone to anything. If a page here reads as though it is selling something, that is a defect and we would like to know about it.
Can you help me find a specific centre?
Not directly, and deliberately. The federal locator at FindTreatment.gov lists every licensed facility with its services and payment options, and the SAMHSA National Helpline gives referrals around the clock. Both are free and neither is paid to send you anywhere.
Why is there no phone number?
Because we would have nothing useful to say when you called, and because a number on a page like this usually connects to someone paid per admission. The numbers we publish reach federal helplines rather than us.
Do you write about anything other than the US?
No. Everything here describes the US system — its regulations, its insurance rules and its facility directory. Almost none of it transfers to another country, and pretending otherwise would be worse than saying so.
Can I share or reuse this?
Yes, and we would rather the figures were checked than taken on trust. If you cite a percentage, say what it counts and when the directory was pulled — both change.
Is any of this artificial-intelligence generated?
Every page is checked against its primary sources before publication and every figure is traceable to a document you can open. That is the standard that matters here, and it is the one this site is willing to be judged on — which is why the method is published rather than asserted.
How can I tell if a page is current?
Every page carries the date it was last checked against its sources, and that date moves only when the check actually happens. In a field where the federal rules changed in 2024 and enforcement changed again in 2026, the date is not decoration.
Nothing on this site is medical advice. See our medical disclaimer. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the US, or reach the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.