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In this our April 2006 issue, Treatment Magazine’s Special
Report focuses on the venerable Hanley Center, which probably
more than any other institution is responsible for the emergence of
South Florida as one of the nation’s premier regions for addiction
treatment, on a par now with Minnesota, Southern California
and Arizona.
The growth of the South Florida market, likely more so than the
other regions, saw its genesis in the boom times of the 1980s.
An epoch we at Treatment Magazine sometimes refer to jokingly as
the “money for nothing and chicks for free” era of addiction
treatment, the 1980s decade was in many ways chemical
dependency’s Wild West age, fueled as its was by the then highly
generous reimbursement policies of commercial insurers.
More than any other part of South Florida, Palm Beach County has
been the epicenter of the industry’s growth in the region. Dozens of
treatment facilities sprung up in Palm Beach during the 1980s,
joining a very small number of other already existing
centers like The Palm Beach Institute, which was founded in 1971
and was the first private treatment center in the area.
Most of the facilities founded in Palm Beach in the 1980s have
gone by the wayside, victims, like so many other centers across the
country, of managed care cutbacks. Some centers, like elsewhere,
were also the victims of their own mismanagement and greed.
During the mid-1990s, the treatment industry began to experience
a slow renaissance, and South Florida was no exception. But this
time, growth has been based on a more realistic set of industry
economic strictures in managed care’s wake.
Fast forward more than a decade, and the South Florida market is
once again booming. There are now, according to Treatment
Magazine estimates, more than 750 private residential and inpatient
beds in Palm Beach County alone, up over 35 percent from 550 just
three years ago. These numbers substantially under count the extent
of residential type treatment activity in Palm Beach because of the
prevalence of a business model that gets its name from the region,
the “Florida model.” With the Florida model, treatment facilities
bring in patients from throughout the nation by offering partial
hospitalization while at the same time also arranging for housing,
either through a third party or an entity that is legally at
arms-length from the treatment provider. People like Wellness
Resource Center’s Michele Michael and Renaissance’s Sid
Goodman are often credited as being pioneers in the development
of the Florida model.
Over the past several weeks, Treatment Magazine has gotten reports
that most centers in South Florida are experiencing record census
counts. Typical is the Hanley Center, which COO Joe Monastra
says is operating at record census after seeing a growth rate in its
average census count of about 6 percent annually over the past five
years. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches, BHOPB, has
seen its census skyrocket, according to founder Don Mullaney, who
says demand is far outstripping his center’s capacity.
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Publisher's Note 
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