ABOUT MONTEFIORE CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY PROGRAM
Part of Montefiore Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals in New York City, Montefiore Chemical Dependency Program offers a range of outpatient programs for individuals struggling with substance use disorders. Montefiore’s psychiatry and behavioral services department also offers inpatient care for individuals in crisis, offering pharmacological interventions. The center’s website doesn’t specify, but these may include detox services.
The Bronx-based program is available to adults and adolescents, and the facility also offers specialized programs for women, DUI/DWI offenders, seniors, criminal justice clients, and Spanish-speaking clients.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
Upon initial screening and evaluation, a customized treatment plan is created for each client. Treatment services consists of a brief intervention program for those at the entry-point of treatment; an intensive outpatient program (IOP), consisting of 15 hours of services for at least six weeks; and standard outpatient care, tailored to suit the individual’s needs.
In addition, the facility offers an opioid treatment program that utilizes medication-assisted treatment (MAT) using Suboxone along with counseling. Montefiore Medical Center offers one of 542 Suboxone programs in New York State. The department also runs two methadone programs in the Bronx.
Chemical dependency programming consists of individual and group counseling as well as psychiatric care and the prescription of medications, when necessary. Clients can also make use of on-site nutritional and vocational counseling. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings are held on-site, and when appropriate, referrals to additional resources and community links are provided. When they’ve completed their primary program, all clients are invited to attend continuing care sessions.
The facility is among the 225 addiction treatment centers in New York State to offer dedicated programming for individuals who have experienced domestic violence. There’s also a women’s-only program, DUI services, and a Legal Mandate program for individuals court-ordered to receive an assessment and/or treatment.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
Montefiore Medical Center’s multi-disciplinary treatment team includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors, many of whom offer bilingual services.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
The three alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com to date gave mixed feedback. Two of the three gave the center perfect five-star ratings in all 15 evaluated metrics, including the center’s treatment effectiveness, holistic options, family participation, counseling options, and ability to treat co-occurring disorders. One of these anonymous alumni reported feeling cared for by the facility, but also complained of overcrowding. The other praised the center’s cleanliness but noted that the equipment was old.
The third anonymous alum, who self-referred due to a “nervous breakdown,” did not rate the aforementioned metrics; however, they claimed they were misdiagnosed as schizophrenic and cited that they stopped their treatment short after being assaulted by other patients.
Secondary sites currently yield no feedback on the chemical dependency program, and mixed reviews of Montefiore Medical Center as a whole, which has average ratings of 3.8 stars based on 129 reviews on Facebook, 4.8 stars based on four reviews on Google, and two stars based on 48 reviews on Yelp, plus a single five-star rating on YellowPages.com.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Negative reviews often cited rude or unhelpful staff, particularly nurses and administrative staff, though reviewers often wrote that their treatment from physicians was better. Long wait times also drew repeated complaints. However, numerous reviewers also wrote in to say that they had received exemplary treatment from start to finish.
“Worse place ever! The waiting time in emergency is about 8 hours! There is no doctors and the staff are extremely rude! If you feel really sick do not waste your time and go somewhere else!” Liz wrote in a typical negative comment on Yelp. But on Facebook, Mohammed wrote: “Doctors and all other support staff are friendly courteous and professional. I feel at ease being there.”
WHAT STAFF SAY
The single former staffer surveyed by Best-rehabs.com at the time of this writing gave the facility high marks for all metrics evaluated, including five-star ratings for the overall quality of its care, its honesty, its willingness to put clients’ interests first, and the experience levels and training of its medical, addiction, and mental health staff. The reviewer added that one of the facility’s strengths is its “patients come first” philosophy.
FINANCING
The Montefiore Chemical Dependency Program accepts Medicaid (accepted at 85.2 percent of NY State facilities) and Medicare (accepted at 46.1 percent of NY State facilities). Clients can also use private insurance. For uninsured clients, the rate is determined on a sliding fee scale. Both of the individuals polled by Best-rehabs.com to date on the center’s affordability gave it five out of five stars.
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