Exciting Changes And Key Initiatives At Remuda Ranch

This month, I wanted to reach out to our network of professionals, referral agencies and other organizations that are connected to Remuda Ranch. I want to review some of the exciting changes and key initiatives at Remuda Ranch for 2011.

Over the last several months, the clinical staff of Remuda Ranch have continued to meet on an on-going basis to discuss the needs of current and prospective patients for the facility. One of the issues with the most impact to clinical care has been the increase in the percentage of patients that are seeking care at the facility with their use of health plan benefits. Historically, the vast majority of patients at Remuda have paid for care out of pocket. With the increase in patients choosing to seek care through the use of their insurance benefits without paying for care out of pocket, the clinical staff at Remuda Ranch have had to make changes to the patients' approach to care. Each patient continues to have a comprehensive treatment team that participates in the treatment plan. Each patient's care plan takes into consideration their diagnosis, current symptoms, support network, financial situation, and access to aftercare. Patient progress, achievement of treatment plan goals and individual situation drive the actual length of stay in each of our levels of care including inpatient, residential and independent living (day treatment). No longer are patients expected to stay for a set period of time in treatment. This change in the clinical approach has allowed patients who were previously unable to commit to longer lengths of stay for a variety of clinical and/or financial reasons to now receive care at Remuda Ranch. This is true for both the inpatient and residential levels of care. This exciting change has the benefit of allowing each individual patient the opportunity to choose a longer stay if it works for them or a shorter stay if that is what works best for their situation.

To support the financial needs of the patients of Remuda Ranch, the facility is working closer than ever with health plans to arrange for assignment of benefits to cover health care costs. As part of this effort, the facility has steps in place to start the process of contracting with a number of national health plans. Remuda Ranch was able to kick off this initiative by signing a contract with one of the nation's largest health plans. This is a tremendous step for Remuda Ranch to partner with this organization with the result of potentially opening up access for the millions of members nationwide. This contract should be executed within the next 30 days at which time we will be able to share this with you. In the meantime, we continue to work with individual health plans to do single case agreements whenever possible.

Remuda Ranch will continue to work with each patient to develop an individualized care plan that meets the clinical, spiritual, and financial aspects for that specific patient. The partnership with health plans will continue to be a key focus over the next several months. Together, the efforts in both of these areas should continue to improve access to care while providing the type of care and length of stay that works best for each patient.

I am pleased to share these current efforts at Remuda Ranch. We value our relationship with you and strive to maintain our status as a premier provider of eating disorder treatment. Thank you for your interest in our patient focus and continued success.

Sincerely,

Brian Beutin, MS, MBA/HCM
Chief Executive Officer
Remuda Ranch