SponsoredEvery program and resource on this site has to clear two tests before it appears. It has to hold the license or accreditation that matches the care it provides, and it has to offer at least one way to pay that does not require private insurance. This page explains how we check both, where our data comes from, how often we recheck it, and what we still get wrong.
Key Points
- Programs must hold the license or accreditation appropriate to the level of care they offer.
- Programs must offer at least one affordable payment path beyond private insurance to be listed.
- Listing data comes from SAMHSA, CARF, the Joint Commission, and state licensing boards.
- An automated scan checks the full directory every three months and flags listings for review.
- Nothing on this site rates clinical quality or predicts outcomes at any individual program.
- Resource contact details are traced by hand to a government page or the organization’s own site.
In This Article:
- What a program has to prove to appear here
- Where our listing data comes from
- Verified listings and what that label means
- How we keep listings current
- What this does not tell you
- How we research free and low-cost resources
- The Free Resource Score
- How our articles are researched and reviewed
- Who does this work
- Tell us if something is wrong
- If you need help right now
What a program has to prove to appear here
A program has to clear two tests to be listed on rehabs.org. It must hold the license or accreditation that matches the level of care it provides, and it must offer at least one way to pay that does not depend on private insurance. A program that fails either test is not listed, no matter how well regarded it is.
The first test is straightforward. Addiction treatment is regulated, and the specific body that regulates a program depends on what that program does. A medical detox unit answers to a different authority than a sober living house. We check the credential that applies to the service being advertised rather than accepting a general claim of legitimacy.
The second test is the one that makes this directory different from others, and it is worth being plain about why it exists. Most people who arrive here are not comparing amenities. They are trying to work out whether treatment is financially possible at all. A program that only accepts private insurance or cash payment cannot answer that question for them. So it does not get a listing here, even if it is excellent.
To qualify, a program has to offer at least one of the following:
- Medicaid – accepts Medicaid or a Medicaid managed care plan.
- Medicare – accepts Medicare for substance use disorder treatment.
- TRICARE – accepts TRICARE, which covers active duty service members, retirees, and military families.
- Sliding scale fees – charges on a sliding scale based on income and household size.
- Scholarships or financial aid – sets aside funds to reduce or waive the cost of treatment for people who qualify.
- Free or publicly funded care – provides treatment at no cost, including programs funded by state or federal grants.
This is a listing rule, not a preference. It is the reason the directory is smaller than the largest treatment directories, and we think that is the right trade. You can browse the full treatment centers directory to see how programs are filtered by payment type.
Where our listing data comes from
Listing data starts with public records rather than provider marketing. We work from SAMHSA behavioral health facility data, accreditation records held by CARF and the Joint Commission, and state licensing board files. What we check depends on the level of care a program advertises.
Two acronyms are worth defining before the table. CARF is the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, an independent accreditor of behavioral health programs. SAMHSA is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal agency that certifies opioid treatment programs and maintains the national treatment locator. The Joint Commission is a separate independent accreditor of health care organizations.
| Level of care | What we check |
|---|---|
| Medical withdrawal management (detox) | State licensure for medically supervised withdrawal, plus CARF or Joint Commission accreditation where the program holds it |
| Opioid treatment programs (OTPs) | SAMHSA certification and state licensure. An OTP is a clinic authorized to dispense methadone |
| Office-based medication treatment (MAT and MOUD) | State licensure covering the service. MAT means medication-assisted treatment, MOUD means medications for opioid use disorder |
| Residential and inpatient treatment | State licensure for 24-hour care, plus CARF or Joint Commission accreditation where held |
| Outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment | State licensure for the level of care advertised |
| Transitional housing and sober living | State or local registration or certification, where the state operates one |
The directory deliberately reaches beyond residential rehab. Withdrawal management, opioid treatment programs, office-based medication treatment, and recovery housing are all listed, because those are often the levels of care a person can actually access quickly and afford. Restricting the directory to residential programs would leave out most of the affordable options in the country.
Verified listings and what that label means
Some listings carry a verified label. That means the owner or operator has claimed the listing and manages the information directly, and the listing data comes from the profile they maintain. Verified describes who keeps the information current. It carries no quality judgment.
Claiming a listing is free, and before a claim is granted we confirm that the person making it works for the business. Verified listings are managed through rehab.com, a sister site, and the data flows from that profile into the listing here.
Every listed program clears the same two tests described above whether or not it is verified. A verified label means a program’s own staff are keeping its hours, services, and payment options up to date, which usually makes that information more accurate than a record built only from public files. It does not mean the program has been rated, ranked, or recommended.
How we keep listings current
An automated scan checks the full directory every three months and flags listings that appear out of date, so they can be reviewed and corrected. Reports from readers and providers feed the same review queue. The first full sitewide scan is underway as of August 2026.
The directory currently holds more than 10,000 programs, which is too many to recheck by hand on any useful schedule. The quarterly scan looks for the signals that a record has drifted: a phone number that no longer connects, a website that has gone dark, a licensure or accreditation record that can no longer be found, and payment information that conflicts with what a program now publishes. Flagged listings go to a person for review rather than being changed automatically.
A listing is corrected or removed when any of the following turns up:
- The program has closed or the location no longer operates.
- The record duplicates another listing for the same program.
- The license or accreditation for the level of care advertised has lapsed or cannot be found.
- The program no longer offers any of the affordable payment paths listed above.
That last one matters and it does cost us listings. Programs change their payment mix. When a program stops accepting Medicaid or ends its sliding scale, it stops meeting the standard for inclusion here.
What this does not tell you
Nothing on this site rates the clinical quality of a program or predicts how treatment will go for any individual. Licensure and accreditation confirm that a program is authorized to provide the care it advertises. They do not measure how well it does that.
A listing is not a recommendation
Appearing in this directory means a program met the license and affordability tests on this page. The order in which programs appear is not a ranking of quality, and no placement here is earned by payment.
We do not publish success rates for individual programs. Rates that programs report about themselves are not measured the same way, do not follow people for the same length of time, and cannot be compared against each other. Publishing them side by side would suggest a precision that does not exist. Research on treatment outcomes is discussed in our educational content, where it can be attributed and put in context.
We also do not claim the directory is complete or flawless. The quarterly scan is new, the first full pass is still running, and an audit of the existing records against the criteria on this page is in progress. Programs close between scans. Duplicate records exist. If you find one, telling us is the fastest way it gets fixed.
How we research free and low-cost resources
The free and low-cost resources listed on our state, county, and city pages are a separate body of work from the facility directory. They cover public treatment programs, harm reduction services, support groups, helplines, nonprofits, and community organizations. Every phone number and web address is traced by hand to a source of record before it is published.
A source of record means a government page or the organization’s own website. We do not copy contact details from other directories. Errors move between aggregated directories and get harder to trace with every copy, and a wrong phone number reaching someone in a hard moment is worse than no listing at all.
Each state is researched in full, then a separate verification pass rechecks the entries before anything is published. Doing it this way is slow. It is also the only way to be confident that a number answers.
We would rather undercount than list something that has closed or moved. When a category looks thin on a page, that reflects what we have been able to confirm, not proof that nothing exists in the area. Where local listings are sparse, those pages point to statewide helplines and to services that can be reached by mail or phone.
Harm reduction services are researched and listed on the same footing as treatment programs. Syringe services, naloxone access, and fentanyl test strip distribution are included because the clinical evidence supports them, and because they are available to people who are not seeking abstinence-based treatment or who are waiting for a treatment slot to open.
The Free Resource Score
The Free Resource Score is a 0 to 10 rating shown on every city and county page. It measures how easy it is to find free and low-cost addiction help in a given county, drawing on treatment availability, state coverage and law, local costs, and harm reduction access. It is an access signal rather than a quality rating, and a lower score never means no help exists.
The score has its own published methodology, which sets out what each category measures, how the ratings are worded, every data source behind it, and where it falls short. Read it at How We Calculate the Free Resource Score.
How our articles are researched and reviewed
Every article on this site is drafted from primary sources, edited, and then reviewed for medical accuracy before it publishes. Health claims are attributed to a named authority, and statistics carry a source and a year so you can check them.
We draw on SAMHSA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, peer-reviewed journals, and state health departments. Where a figure is more than two years old, we say so rather than presenting it as current.
Three editorial standards apply to everything we publish.
We use person-first language. That means “a person with a substance use disorder” rather than “an addict,” and “a person in recovery” rather than “a recovering addict.” Language shapes how people are treated, including how they are treated when they ask for help.
We treat harm reduction as evidence-based public health. It is not described here as a lesser option, a fallback, or a stepping stone to real treatment.
We do not make promises about outcomes. No program on this site is described as guaranteed to work, and we do not use the idea that a person has to lose everything before treatment can help.
Who does this work
Content on this site is produced by an in-house editorial team working with credentialed reviewers in addiction medicine and behavioral health. Each piece is researched and drafted, edited independently for accuracy and readability, and then reviewed by a clinical reviewer before publication.
Our contributors include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, licensed clinical social workers, physician assistants, and certified recovery specialists, alongside writers and editors who work on health content full time. You can read their credentials and background on the About Us page, where every contributor and medical reviewer has a profile.
The directory research, the free resource research, and this methodology are maintained by the same editorial team.
Tell us if something is wrong
If a phone number does not work, a program has closed, or something on a page is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will check it. Reader reports go into the same review queue as the quarterly scan results, and they are usually the fastest route to a correction.
Useful things to report include a disconnected or reassigned phone number, a program that has closed or moved, a program that no longer accepts Medicaid or no longer offers a sliding scale, a duplicate listing, and a factual error in an article.
Providers can also reach us to request a correction to a listing, or to claim a listing so the information can be managed directly. Claiming is free, and we will confirm that the request comes from someone at the business before granting it.
To report any of the above, or to request a correction to a listing, contact us and tell us what you found.
If you need help right now
You do not have to read this page, or wait for anything, to get help today. Two national lines are free, confidential, and available at any hour.
- Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, free and available 24 hours a day.
- Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for free, confidential referrals to treatment and support, available 24 hours a day in English and Spanish.
From any city page you can also reach your state’s directory and helplines, along with pages for nearby cities. To browse the full directory, start at our treatment centers directory.
Find a Rehab Center
Select a state to find options for rehab centers in your area.
You Might Like
- How We Calculate the Free Resource Score
- About Us: our editorial team and medical reviewers
- Paying for Rehab
- Harm Reduction
References
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Accessed August 10, 2026. https://www.samhsa.gov/
- CARF International. Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. Accessed August 10, 2026. https://www.carf.org/
- The Joint Commission. Accessed August 10, 2026. https://www.jointcommission.org/
Last updated: August 2026
Method version: 1.0
What changed: This is the first published version. Future revisions and a short summary of what changed will be listed here.
