Inpatient Residential Treatment Facility Summary

This article explains how the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical center Inpatient Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) is the US military’s superior substance use disorder (SUD) establishment. This RTF is open to all branches of the US military, but entrance is only granted after a servicemember fails out of their respective branch’s treatment program.
The RTF is located at Fort Gordon, Georgia, has 22 patient bedrooms and lasts 28 calendar days. Since it’s 2009 opening, the RTF’s capacity ranges between 90%-100%. The program follows strict military schedules, which consists of a 4:30 AM wakeup to a 10:00 PM lights out. The day consists of physical training, counseling session and minimal breaks. Out of a random 108 person sample, the
RTF had an 87% program completion rate, which is three times the civilian program average.
This program had hurdles. Researchers complained that it was difficult for the RTF’s Army doctors to communicate with treatment specialists from other branches of the military. Also, there wasn’t a clear cross-service tracking mechanism for relapse rates. Some patients couldn’t be followed up with due to administrative discharges, separations and retirements. If this data was available, this study would be more informative.