KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Recovery Centers of America (RCA) today announced it has secured a $231.5 million commitment from Deerfield Management Company, the New York-based healthcare investment firm with more than $5 billion under management. The company will use these funds to create one of the world’s largest addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare companies.
Disrupting the Status Quo on the Road to Recovery
“Recovery Centers of America will disrupt the industry by fundamentally changing the availability, quality and delivery of substance abuse treatment,” says Brian O’Neill, founder and CEO of Recovery Centers of America. “We will completely change the status quo that requires patients to travel thousands of miles for treatment. We are bringing full service Centers for Addiction Medicine to our patients’ neighborhoods so they can receive all methods of treatment in one place. We are working with insurance companies to streamline payment methodologies. Our goal is to make substance abuse treatment as readily available as treatment for other chronic diseases, such as diabetes and asthma.”
The concept behind Recovery Centers of America came to O’Neill, a nationally known real estate developer, during the recession. “The recession had been very tough on my real estate business and it got me thinking that I wanted to spend the rest of my life saving lives,” he says.
Leslie Henshaw, partner at Deerfield Management, comments, “A convergence of factors in behavioral health is driving an urgent need for treatment options that integrate the entire continuum of care to achieve clinical efficacy that, to date, has been hard to deliver or document.” She went on to add that, “Deerfield shares the company’s vision and strategy for attacking this challenge, and we believe that combining our capital and innovative market research capabilities with Recovery Centers of America’s uniquely experienced management team can create a transformative platform for delivering addiction treatment services.”
A Chilling Epidemic
Substance abuse is now one of the fastest-growing epidemics in America. Last year, 22.7 million Americans met criteria for diagnosis of substance abuse or dependence, with only 2.5 million receiving treatment. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, nearly 44,000 people die from drug overdoses each year, a figure that more than doubled from 1999 to 2013 and now exceeds the number of individuals killed in car crashes.
Woefully Outdated, Piecemeal and Underfinanced Treatment Options
“The opiate epidemic in America has simply overwhelmed our country and our healthcare system,” begins Deni Carise, Ph.D. and Chief Clinical Officer of Recovery Centers of America. “Patients who start with prescription pain killers soon have turned to cheap street-level heroin, creating an entirely new class of substance abuser that desperately needs help to overcome their disease and rebuild their lives.”
Carise continues, “The struggle and discrimination these individuals and their families face, and the poor quality of limited care they receive, is appalling on clinical, political and moral levels. Recovery Centers of America is battling for our patients, bringing world-class treatment options to the very neighborhoods where patients live and work.”
Recovery Centers of America offers a longer and more comprehensive continuum of care, including detox, inpatient, outpatient and ongoing support services through its centers. Its locations will serve as centers of sobriety, treatment, spiritual life and healthy sober living for individuals and their families.
Growth Plans
The company has acquired eight development sites in the Northeast U.S. and plans to open its first campus in May of 2016 in Earleville, Maryland, with additional campuses opening in the Washington, D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia metro areas in 2016. Current plans contemplate operating over 1,200 beds by the end of 2017.
World-Class Management Team
Recovery Centers of America has assembled a world-class team of professionals charged with re-envisioning every aspect of substance abuse treatment from clinical care, to technology and electronic medical record keeping, as well as the design and build of centers and advocacy for its patients.
That team includes:
J. Brian O’Neill, CEO and Founder, a nationally recognized real estate developer who has decades of experience developing, zoning, obtaining approvals, and securing financing of commercial, residential and hospitality real estate projects throughout the Northeast United States.
Deni Carise, Ph.D., Chief Clinical Officer, a former Chief Clinical Officer with some of the world’s leading behavioral treatment providers, including CRC Health Group and Phoenix House. An adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Carise has consulted with governments worldwide to develop national systems for behavioral health treatment.
John Paul (J.P.) Christen, Chief Operating Officer, a former Vice President of Acute Care for Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS), a portfolio of 24 acute care hospitals with 5,600 beds nationwide.
Kevin McClure, Chief Financial Officer, a former Chief Financial Officer with NHS Human Services, the nation’s largest community-based non-profit provider of human services.
John Henry, Chief Marketing Officer, a former Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Caron Treatment Centers, one of the nation’s most respected non-profit providers of drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
Kathy Junod, Chief Information Officer, a former Executive Director of IT at Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the biotech and pharmaceutical company recently acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals.
About Recovery Centers of America
Based in King of Prussia, PA, Recovery Centers of America is committed to advocating for some 22.7 million Americans suffering from behavioral health and substance use disorders. The company, which is opening treatment centers throughout the Northeast, is transforming the way treatment is delivered in an industry in desperate need of change. Recovery Centers of America’s neighborhood-based Centers for Addiction Medicine are designed based on the latest scientific research that indicates sustained recovery is more likely when patients stay connected to and supported by family and friends, while building other, ongoing support networks. By allowing patients to receive treatment in an atmosphere more akin to a college campus with Starbucks-like appeal, Recovery Centers of America helps overcome the stigma of addiction and its treatment, which is essential to meaningful recovery.
For more information visit www.recoverycentersofamerica.com.
About Deerfield Management Company
Deerfield is an investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information, and philanthropy. For more information, please visit www.deerfield.com.
