New Approach to Addiction Treatment Offered in Georgia

Bluff achieves Georgia’s first-ever partnership of accredited medical school with addiction treatment center. Bluff, a 175-acre luxury residential addiction treatment facility, recently welcomed its first patients – and physician leaders. “We are very grateful to be involved in this partnership,” said Dr. Peter F. Buckley, M.D., Dean, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University University. “We are not only interested in the outcomes and the care that will be rendered so well here; we are also a training facility now providing residents and colleagues with the opportunity to train in a state-of-the-art addiction program so that they will be able to deliver the best care for people in recovery.”

Bluff’s opening represents Georgia’s first-ever partnership between an addiction treatment center and an accredited medical school.  Together, these two organizations develop and advance scientifically driven treatments that are based on outcomes data, evidence-based methods, experiential learning and continuous rehabilitation. This innovative relationship will increase awareness, deter substance abuse and increase access to treatment in Georgia.

For example, prior to receiving treatment at Bluff, patients meeting certain screening criteria are examined at the Medical College of Georgia detox center where any underlying medical issues can be identified and treated. Dr. William S. Jacobs, a Georgia native, University of Georgia graduate and Medical College of Georgia alumnus who also serves as Medical College of Georgia’s Chief of Addiction Medicine – shared how this process has already proven effective with one of Bluff’s first patients who arrived after a successful detox at another facility but was experiencing tremendous craving and anxiety.

“[The patient] complained of chest pain and admitted to us upon arrival that he had previously suffered from a heart attack, but never scheduled a follow up,” said Dr. Jacobs. “In just a few hours – with the help of our experts at Medical College of Georgia – we were able to evaluate and stabilize the patient and get him into treatment at Bluff, where he’s doing well.”