Referral / Admission

• Admission criteria
  • Upon completion of initial screening by phone interview and/or intake application with Admission Coordinator, decisions will be made as to a guest’s appropriateness for Neartown services through coordination of departmental input. guest with non-stable suicidality/homicidal ideation, acute mental health crises, or medical concerns beyond NT’s capacity to manage shall be offered a referral for stabilization by an outside agency prior to admit. Prior to intake, Clinical Services Supervisor shall be notified via Microsoft Teams to address any clinical issues and be made aware of new arrival to program. An intake date shall be provided in this correspondence so that a clinician may be assigned the guest and devote time on their schedule to Psychosocial Assessment and completion of Level of Care screening instruments. The day of intake, an email will be sent notifying Clinical Services Supervisor of guest’s arrival so the guest can be formally added to a clinician’s caseload and the clinician assigned the intake assessment. Likewise, if a guest leaves the program (walk off, medical discharge, administrative dismissal, etc.) a notice will be sent to Clinical Services so that the guest may be removed from their therapist’s caseload and the therapist notified to complete discharge Summary and close the guest’s chart so that billing department is aware client is no longer receiving services. During Psychosocial Assessment, clinicians will utilize mental health screening tools to determine diagnosis and symptom severity. These tools include standard MH screeners (BDI, HARS, etc. as appropriate) as well as the CAGE, AUDIT, and DAST. Supplementary to Psychosocial Assessment, a Level of Care tool shall be utilized to indicate guest’s need for intensity of services. This tools is the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Patient Placement Criteria, 3rd Edition, Revised (ASAM-PPC-2R). Scores on the ASAM indicating Level III.5 are appropriate for Program A (Residential). Guest that have completed Program A are eligible for transition to Program B or the next appropriate program. In some cases, guest are discharged and referred outside facility upon completion. Copies of the scored instrument shall be placed in the guest’s chart and documented on the Psychosocial Assessment or Assessment Update as applicable. As indicated on the ASAM a therapist’s clinical discretion as well as extenuating circumstances may override the score and initiate placement into an appropriate program. Documentation of the rationale for this change should be provided by the treating clinician on the psychosocial assessment and screening tools. Completion of the ASAM screener must be repeated with updated scores every 6 months or whenever there is a change in level of care to remain valid. However, should a guest’s primary insurance request rationale for level of care placement, request documentation to support medical necessity to continue at a particular level of care, or for the purposes of payment denial appeals, the LOC tools may be completed as necessary by a guest’s primary treating clinician. While LOC tools are helpful in making clinical assessments, ultimately, the decision to refer to higher or lower levels of care rests with a guest’s primary clinician after departmental/treatment team input. Should a guest’s insurance deny payment for treatment, every effort will be made to place the guest within the next most appropriate level of care they can afford or refer them to an outside agency for continued services as needed. Discharge criteria (other than that of referral to outside agency, medical, administrative or ASA termination) shall be determined based upon completion of primary treatment goals as indicated on the guest’s treatment plan. Ideally, all secondary treatment goals will also be completed, but due to time and logistical constraints, this is not always a possibility. Program completion and overall NT program commencement therefore depend upon completion of primary treatment goals. Program A (Residential) Primary Treatment Goals: Stabilization of substance abuse and mental health diagnoses. Engage in Twelve-Step Curriculum. Program B (IOP) Primary Treatment Goals: Achieve and/or maintain stabilization of substance abuse and mental health diagnoses. Completion of up to 6 weeks IOP treatment. Participation in family therapy if not contraindicated. Recent drug tests negative No serious recent rule infractions Note: Due to population/facility safety and program parameters, automatic admission disqualifiers include the following: Registered Sex Offenders (subject to executive review prior to approval) Severe uncontrolled SMI or SI/HI per clinical review and judgment Adolescents Convicted arsonists (subject to executive review prior to approval) Guest speaking languages for which no translator is available Guest presenting with Advanced Directives that indicate practices deemed to be medically inappropriate by a licensed provider. Guest that utilize Surrogate Decision Makers that indicate practices deemed to be medically inappropriate by a licensed provider.

Tobacco Policy

• Dipping
  • Allowed
• E cigarettes
  • Allowed
• Smoking cessation products
  • Allowed
• Smoking
  • Allowed

Other Requirements / Policies

• HIV Screening Offered