Men's addiction treatment facility in Columbia Falls gets license reinstated

Sep. 29—The Recovery Centers of Montana's men's facility is once again fully licensed after correcting issues found by state health officials last year.

The company operates two addiction treatment facilities: a men's only facility in Columbia Falls called The Ranch and a women's only facility called The Lodge in Hungry Horse. Last year, the Montana Free Press reported on issues surrounding the men's facility, which included patients being admitted while high or drunk and the staff's failure to report an incident where residents were allowed to stay at the facility after making racist threats toward another patient.

Though the women's facility had its license extended to January 2025 following an inspection from state health department officials, the men's facility was given a provisional use license until July.

Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Communications Officer Holly Matkin said that Recovery Centers of Montana men's facility in Columbia Falls had a regular license issued effective May 13. The women's facility was on a provisional license in October 2023, but a regular license was issued on Jan. 20, after verification of compliance with a directed plan of correction, according to Matkin.

Recovery Centers of Montana CoFounder and CEO Jim Driscoll said the company has worked to address issues raised by state health department officials by "revamping" the entire curriculum and hiring more staff. He said both facilities are "very organized" now, with control officers overseeing operations and having set rules, policies and procedures.

The management team also chose to close its facility in Clinton to focus on the inpatient facilities in the Flathead Valley, adding that location was "too far away."

Driscoll said previous issues were a result of trying to help as many people as quickly as possible.

"Because this is an epidemic out here — addiction, people dying of fentanyl overdose. But we did realize that the state's ideas were correct, in fact, they are best practice. So, we've made some adjustments to improve, not just to help as many people as we can, but to make sure we do it in the right way," Driscoll said.

The Ranch is licensed for 50 beds, but staff are cautious about the number of people brought in on a weekly basis, he said. Currently, there are around six clients per week so as to not make a huge impact on existing patients. Driscoll said that the facility hasn't been at capacity in a while, but he expects to soon fill all 50 beds.

The Lodge, or the women's facility, was recently licensed for six additional beds. Driscoll said that program has been very successful, and the company has been able to open another women's only 16-bed facility in St. Ignatius called The Haven. The facility has a focus on substance abuse disorders and reoccurring mental health issues.

Driscoll said the organization is better after working on the previous issues with the DPHHS.

"I wish we didn't go through what we went through, but we are a far better organization having gone through it," Driscoll said.

Because the facilities primarily take in patients on Medicaid, he characterized the organization as "helping the people no one wants to help."

"Our facilities, especially The Lodge ... it used to be a successful lodge where wealthy people stayed. We could easily make that private pay, but we decided we want to help the most at risk, and that's what we do with just purely Medicaid or self-paying patients," Driscoll said.

A recent challenge has been fallout from the Medicaid Unwinding that took place in 2023, where 112,000 Montanans lost coverage, according to data from the Montana Department for Public Health and Human Services.

Driscoll said staff have been helping people try to get Medicaid back, but that can be difficult for various reasons when someone has been in addiction. He said for some, it is hard to remember where their Medicaid mail may be going, particularly if they have changed residences multiple times in recent years.

Another hurdle is being able to pay well enough for new staff to relocate to Northwest Montana. Recovery Centers of Montana employ around 140 people.

"Getting good people to relocate out here, it's so expensive and that's a big challenge. But we do have some employee housing options, which is a game changer for us," he said.

The company also recently hired a homeless outreach coordinator. As the weather gets colder, the goal will be to find homeless residents struggling with addiction and assist them with treatment.

To learn more about the addiction treatment facilities, visit recoverycentersofmontana.com/