Hazelden Betty Ford Announces Confidential Evaluation Service Designed for Healthcare Professionals

Learn About Hazelden Betty Ford

ST. PAUL, Minn. (June 18, 2024) – The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation's leading nonprofit addiction treatment provider, today announced the launch of a specialized evaluation and treatment service in St. Paul, designed to meet the unique needs of healthcare professionals struggling with substance use disorders and other mental health issues.

"Healthcare professionals are under immense pressure," said Alta DeRoo, M.D, M.B.A., chief medical officer at Hazelden Betty Ford. "A recent study by the CDC found that nearly half of health workers reported often burned out, reported feeling burnout, depression or anxiety in the past year. These stressors can increase the risk of substance use disorders, creating a hidden crisis within the medical community."

The new healthcare professionals (HCP) three-day outpatient evaluation program recognizes the challenges faced by medical providers, including demanding schedules, access to controlled substances, and the stigma associated with seeking help. The comprehensive evaluation offers:

  • Confidentiality and expertise: Hazelden Betty Ford's HCP services prioritize complete confidentiality for all participants, ensuring careers are not jeopardized by seeking treatment.
  • Specialized curriculum: The multidisciplinary approach, including medical, psychiatric, and psychological assessments from addiction board-certified professionals, is tailored to the specific stressors and ethical considerations healthcare professionals face.
  • Integrated ecosystem of support: When continued treatment is recommended, Hazelden Betty Ford offers the gold standard in evidence-based addiction treatment and recovery, including expanded mental health and family services that improve outcomes for lifelong recovery and wellbeing.

"The HCP assessment offers a safe space for healthcare professionals to begin to heal and reclaim their well-being," said Dr. DeRoo. "By providing this on-ramp to comprehensive, confidential treatment, we can help them return to their vital roles, better equipped to care for themselves and their patients."

About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient addiction and mental health care for adults and youth, the Foundation has treatment centers and telehealth services nationwide as well as a network of collaborators throughout health care. Through charitable support and a commitment to innovation, the Foundation is able to continually enhance care, research, programs and services, and help more people. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in its services and throughout the organization, which also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction.