Brad Sorte, CEO and president of Caron Treatment Centers, is leading the organization through a pivotal transformation that aligns with the sweeping changes reshaping the behavioral health and addiction treatment landscape. Based in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, Caron is one of the nation’s longstanding nonprofit addiction treatment providers. Under Sorte’s leadership, the organization is pushing toward greater sophistication by embracing value-based addiction treatment and investing heavily in research, technology, and patient outcomes.
Moving Beyond Fee-for-Service: The Shift to Value-Based Addiction Treatment
The behavioral health industry is currently undergoing a major paradigm shift. Traditional fee-for-service payment models—which reimburse providers based on volume of services delivered—are increasingly being replaced by value-based addiction treatment arrangements, where payments are tied directly to patient outcomes. This shift is more than just a financial adjustment; it represents a fundamental change in how addiction treatment providers approach care delivery and partnerships with payers.
Sorte views this transition not only as inevitable but as an opportunity to foster more productive and less adversarial relationships between providers and payers. “The mantra we’re championing,” Sorte said, “is that the adversarial posture between provider and payer doesn’t have to be the standard. We advocate for a collaborative partnership where both sides share risks and rewards.”
This approach marks a clear departure from the historical tensions often seen between treatment centers and insurance companies, where disagreements about coverage and reimbursement frequently hampered care coordination and innovation.
Caron’s Inexorable March Toward Value and Quality
Caron has been on a multi-year journey to embed value into its practices. For Brad Sorte and the Caron team, value-based addiction treatment is not merely a billing strategy—it is a call to raise the standard of addiction treatment itself.
One of Sorte’s key frustrations has been the lag in addiction medicine compared to other fields of healthcare. “We are really tired of being in the Dark Ages, to some degree, when it comes to innovations seen in other chronic illnesses,” he said. The treatment of addiction, often still viewed through subjective and anecdotal lenses, has long suffered from a lack of rigorous scientific advancement.
To combat this, Caron established the Fran and Doug Tieman Center for Research on its flagship campus in Wernersville. This dedicated research center is designed to propel addiction treatment into a new era of evidence-based care, with a focus on conducting practical, real-world studies that can be rapidly implemented in clinical settings.
Sorte hinted at major forthcoming developments from this research center, describing them as a “game-changer” expected in 2022. While details remain confidential, the announcement reflects Caron’s ambitious vision to revolutionize how addiction is understood and treated.
Expanding Facilities to Support Advanced Care
Alongside its research efforts, Caron is also investing in expanding its treatment infrastructure. In December 2022, Caron will open the Keele Center in Boca Raton, Florida—a 100,000-square-foot medical facility designed to broaden the scope and capacity of its programs.
The Keele Center will house 22 residential beds, eight residential suites for the Caron Ocean Drive program, and 10 supervision and detox beds. Importantly, it will also serve as a training ground for new providers, ensuring a pipeline of highly skilled clinicians familiar with Caron’s evidence-based and value-based addiction treatment model.
This expansion exemplifies Caron’s commitment to marrying physical capacity with innovative care models and research initiatives.
Leveraging Technology for Outcomes Tracking and Alumni Support
In value-based addiction treatment, the ability to measure and demonstrate outcomes is crucial. Caron has recognized this and developed tools and programs designed to support patients beyond their initial treatment episode.
A prime example is Caron’s “My First Year” alumni program, launched in 2012. Modeled after the Physicians’ Health Program—a well-regarded addiction recovery program for doctors—My First Year offers ongoing coaching, random drug screenings, participation in support groups, and regular video conferencing involving Caron staff, alumni, and family members.
Since its inception, the program has supported over 1,300 patients and 1,700 family members, boasting a sustained abstinence rate of approximately 75% at one year. This success underscores the importance of sustained post-treatment support, a key factor in long-term recovery and a critical metric in value-based addiction treatment arrangements.
Sorte emphasized the importance of these tools: “If you have mechanisms like My First Year to track progress and provide ongoing support, we know we can give people a really good probability of having a great outcome.” He further explained Caron’s goal to make this kind of program universally accessible to every patient, enabling them to “take it home” and continue their recovery with Caron’s support.
The Independence Blue Cross Pilot: A Model for Value-Based Addiction Treatment Success
Caron’s first major foray into value-based addiction treatment began in 2017 with a pilot program in partnership with Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross (IBC). This innovative agreement involved IBC paying Caron a flat fee to treat its members and covering any readmissions within 90 days of discharge—effectively putting financial risk on Caron but incentivizing high-quality care and preventing unnecessary readmissions.
The pilot yielded compelling results. Caron’s 90-day readmission rate for IBC members was just 5.6%, significantly outperforming the range of 11.6% to 25.7% reported by six other providers in the IBC network during the same period. Additionally, the one-year retreatment rate was approximately 18% for those patients treated at Caron.
“This pilot demonstrated that better collaboration and risk-sharing between payers and providers can improve outcomes for everyone involved,” Sorte noted.
The success of the IBC pilot encouraged Caron to pursue similar value-based addiction treatment arrangements with other payers, including Blue Cross entities in other states and Aetna Inc., now part of CVS Health.
Transforming Accessibility and Approach
Caron’s embrace of value-based addiction treatment reflects a broader transformation within the organization. Only five years ago, Caron was largely private pay and out-of-network, which limited accessibility for many patients. Stakeholders pushed Caron to become more accessible and better aligned with payer systems, a shift that has been integral to its value-based addiction treatment evolution.
“Value-based care puts the onus on the provider to raise their standard of care,” Sorte said. “But the long-term effect will be better outcomes for patients, lower costs for payers, and hopefully, better reimbursement.”
This triad of improved patient care, reduced payer costs, and fair provider compensation epitomizes the promise of value-based addiction treatment in addiction care.
The Future of Caron Treatment Centers
As Caron Treatment Centers looks ahead, its strategy reflects a bold integration of research, technology, patient-centered care, and innovative payment models. By aligning incentives with outcomes and building collaborative partnerships with payers, Caron is moving toward a sustainable and effective future for addiction treatment.
Brad Sorte’s vision emphasizes that improving addiction care is not simply about better funding or facilities but about transforming the science and delivery of treatment itself. With investments in the Fran and Doug Tieman Center for Research, the Keele Center, and scalable alumni support programs, Caron is positioning itself at the forefront of value-based addiction treatment.
For those battling addiction and the professionals supporting them, Caron’s evolution offers hope that the “Dark Ages” of treatment innovation are coming to an end, replaced by a data-driven, patient-focused approach designed to deliver real, measurable recovery.
