For employers, EAPs and clinicians
Referring Someone to Clear Steps Recovery: A Guide for Employers, HR, EAPs and Clinicians
- Answered 24/7
- One number for NH and MA
- Free benefits check
- Joint Commission accredited
If you manage people, run an Employee Assistance Program or treat patients, this page explains how to point someone to outpatient addiction treatment at our Londonderry, NH or Needham, MA center, what admissions will ask for, and what we can and cannot share back. The short version: one call to (603) 769-8981, answered 24/7, and nothing about a person's care comes back to you without their written consent.
How a referral works
One call starts it. Here is what happens next.
Someone calls
The person you are referring, or you on their behalf. The admissions line is answered 24/7 at (603) 769-8981, one number for both centers.
Benefits check
Admissions checks the person's insurance with the carrier at no cost and explains what the plan covers, usually within minutes during the day.
A clinical assessment
A licensed clinician meets with the person at Londonderry or Needham and recommends a level of care. Same-day assessments are available in many cases.
A start date
Most people start within days. If medical detox is needed first, we arrange a referral to a partner facility and plan the step into our program.
What admissions will ask the caller: a first name, a callback number, which state, and only if they have it, the insurance card.
Making the referral
How to refer someone, and what admissions needs
The simplest referral is a phone call. You can give the person our number and let them call, or you can call first to learn how admission works and what their plan is likely to cover. Before someone is our client, admissions can talk with you freely about programs, schedules, insurance and how admission works. The person entering treatment takes part in the assessment themselves.
What helps admissions most is the person's first name and a callback number, which state they live or work in, and their insurance card if they have it. For clinicians, it also helps to know, once the patient has consented, about current medications, recent treatment and anything that suggests risky withdrawal, such as heavy daily drinking or benzodiazepine use.
Please do not send diagnoses, medication lists, records or other clinical details through the forms on this website or by ordinary email. Call admissions and they will tell you the right way to send records for that person.
Confidentiality
Consent comes first: what we can share under 42 CFR Part 2
Substance use treatment records are protected by a federal rule, 42 CFR Part 2, that is stricter than ordinary medical privacy. Covered records can be used or disclosed only as the rule allows, and only as much as the purpose needs (42 CFR 2.13). In practice, once someone is our client, we do not share anything about their care with an employer, an HR team, an EAP or a referring clinician without their written consent.
A written consent under 42 CFR 2.31 has to name the patient, who may share the information and who receives it, describe the information and the purpose, state that the patient can revoke it in writing, and carry an expiration date or event, the patient's signature and the date. A patient can limit a consent to exactly what you need, for example whether they attended. For treatment, payment and health care operations, a patient can sign a single consent that names recipients such as their treating providers.
When a request comes in that the rule does not allow us to answer, the rule also says the answer must not reveal whether the person is in treatment. So if you have not talked with the person about consent, please do that first. It saves everyone a frustrating call.
Levels of care
What we offer in each state
| Level of care | New Hampshire (Londonderry) | Massachusetts (Needham) |
|---|---|---|
| Most structured day program | Day Treatment (PHP), full clinical days on weekdays | Day Treatment, full clinical days on weekdays. Plans may call it partial hospitalization |
| Intensive outpatient | IOP by day, or Evening IOP Monday to Thursday, 6 to 9 pm | Evening Treatment, Monday to Thursday, 6 to 9 pm |
| Step-down care | Outpatient Program | Outpatient Program |
| Medication-assisted treatment | MAT in Londonderry, overseen by our Medical Director | MAT in Needham, overseen by our Medical Director |
| Mental health alongside substance use | Dual diagnosis treatment | Mental health track |
| Detox | Not on site. We arrange a referral to a partner facility, or The Doorway NH by dialing 211 | Not on site. We arrange a referral to a partner facility |
| Not offered | Residential or overnight beds, crisis services | Residential or overnight beds, crisis services |
Insurance
Insurance verification before anyone starts
Admissions verifies the person's benefits with the carrier at no cost and explains any deductible, copay or coinsurance before anything is scheduled. Some plans, usually HMOs, need a primary care referral or prior authorization for levels such as Day Treatment, and admissions checks that with the carrier and requests it.
In New Hampshire, our Londonderry program works with most commercial plans, TRICARE, VA Community Care and New Hampshire Medicaid through Granite Advantage plans. In Massachusetts, our Needham program works with most commercial plans, TRICARE and VA Community Care, and we confirm MassHealth coverage for each MassHealth plan case by case. We are not in network with Medicare at this time. Plan lists are on insurance in New Hampshire and insurance in Massachusetts, and cost and payment explains how the cost is built.
For employers and HR
For employers and HR teams
The most useful things an employer can do are practical: give the person our number, make it easy to talk about schedule changes, and explain the leave they may qualify for. Our guide to keeping your job during treatment covers FMLA, Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave, New Hampshire's voluntary paid leave plan, ADA accommodations and 42 CFR Part 2 in plain words, and you are welcome to share it with employees.
Our evening programs meet Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 pm at both centers, so many people can keep their regular hours. Others need Day Treatment first, which means time away from work. The clinician decides that with the person at the assessment, not in advance.
What you can expect back from us depends entirely on what the employee consents to. Talk with them about it first. In New Hampshire, The Doorway's resource list also points employers to the state's Recovery Friendly Workplace initiative, which supports workplaces that want to help employees in recovery.
For EAPs
For Employee Assistance Program counselors
An EAP counselor can call admissions to ask about programs, schedules and insurance for a client in southern New Hampshire or Greater Boston, or give the client our number. The client completes the assessment with a licensed clinician at Londonderry or Needham, and same-day assessments are available in many cases. If you need to hear back about attendance or progress, the client has to sign a written consent that names your program, so it helps to raise that in your session before the referral.
For clinicians
For physicians, therapists, hospitals and discharge planners
You can call admissions to talk through fit before you refer, and your patient can call directly at any time. Once your patient has signed a consent, it helps us to know their current medications and prescriber, any recent treatment, and anything that suggests withdrawal needs medical supervision. When it does, we arrange detox with a partner facility first and plan the step into our program. Our Medical Director, Dr. Richard Marasa, MD, oversees the medical evaluation and medication decisions.
We are an outpatient program with no psychiatric beds and no crisis unit. For patients leaving a hospital, a detox or a residential program, outpatient care is often the next step, and families of people leaving a Massachusetts Section 35 commitment can read our family guide to Section 35. For co-occurring anxiety, depression or trauma, see our dual diagnosis programs in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Frequently asked
Questions employers, EAPs and clinicians ask
How do I refer an employee or patient to Clear Steps Recovery?
Will you tell me whether my employee attended?
What does a consent form need to include?
Can an EAP counselor or therapist call for a client?
Can someone in treatment keep working?
Do you provide detox?
Which insurance do you accept?
How should I send records?
Check coverage
Checking coverage for someone? Start here.
Your name and a number is all we need to start. Admissions calls you back, usually within minutes during the day, and checks the plan with the carrier at no cost once the person's insurance details are in hand. Please do not include clinical details. Admissions line answered 24/7.
The path is clear
One call, one number, both states.
Outpatient addiction treatment in Londonderry, NH and Needham, MA, with evening programs Monday to Thursday. Nothing about a person's care is shared without their written consent.