BURLINGTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Groups Recover Together, a national leader in value-based care for opioid addiction treatment, today announced the company has appointed Matt Levesque as President and Chief Operating Officer. Additionally, Groups promoted Emily Alexanderson to Chief Expansion Officer after serving in various roles since 2019. The additions to the leadership team will help the company continue to deliver high quality, easily accessible, and affordable treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Groups increased the size of its membership by 66 percent since the start of the pandemic and today serves 9,000 members across 13 states.
Levesque brings two decades of experience in healthcare to Groups, most recently serving on the Board of Directors at MAS Medical Staffing, a top staffing agency for healthcare companies. He also spent 12 years at the healthcare IT provider, athenahealth, where he contributed to scaling the company after it announced an initial public offering in 2007. His desire for mission-driven work and disrupting the healthcare space led him to Groups Recover Together, where he will focus on bolstering company infrastructure for increased member volume, while maintaining the intimacy and personalized care that are crucial to recovery.
“Groups has a proven treatment model that has already made a positive impact on thousands of lives,” said Levesque. “In the coming months we’ll be focusing on increasing access to that quality OUD treatment and meeting individuals where they are in their journey to recovery. I’m so honored to be part of it.”
Emily Alexanderson assumes her new role at Groups after previously serving as the company’s Vice President of Operations and Expansion, and Vice President of Finance and Business Operations. Groups is in the middle of a nationwide expansion, growing from 10 states at the start of 2021 to 15 states by the end of 2021, with plans to further accelerate expansion into 6 additional states by the end of 2022. The company also bolstered its integrated telehealth offering with a proprietary digital platform, as nearly a third of all members live in a county without a Groups clinic. Prior to joining Groups, Emily most recently served as the Head of Specialized Banking at Santander Bank, building a team responsible for serving non-profit and healthcare clients. In previous roles, she led efforts focused on strategic planning, operations, and finance at athenahealth, a provider of network-enabled services for medical groups and health systems.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Matt and Emily step into their new roles at Groups,” said Colleen Nicewicz, CEO of Groups Recover Together. “Their appointment comes at a crucial moment for our organization as we build upon a year of growth and evolve to meet the increased need right now for quality, outcomes-driven addiction treatment. We look forward to having them on our leadership team and further scaling our mission to combat America’s opioid epidemic by destigmatizing addiction, and by providing life-saving treatment to all who need it.”
Groups Recover Together offers a unique, holistic care model that incorporates the support of community along with medication-assisted treatment through buprenorphine, which is widely considered to be the gold standard of opioid addiction treatment. Their clinically-proven methods are backed by the belief that long-term recovery is tied to social, behavioral and economic factors that aren’t typically addressed in traditional treatment models. Groups has achieved industry-leading clinical outcomes, including retaining 74 percent of its members after six months, through strategic relationships with health plans that negotiate value-based care reimbursement contracts. By tying clinical outcomes to reimbursement, Groups encourages affordability for its members and incentivizes the most proven treatment modalities.
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Groups pivoted to a fully virtual care model and saw no decline in outcomes. In fact, 87 percent of its members reported feeling “as supported” or “more supported” in a virtual care model. That success spurred a commitment to telehealth as a long-term treatment modality for opioid use disorder and the launch of Groups’ own digital platform for its members.
To learn more about Groups Recover Together, visit www.joingroups.com.
About Groups Recover Together:
Groups Recover Together delivers opioid addiction recovery services that are proven to help individuals get their lives back on track. Groups provides fast, easy access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT), using Suboxone (buprenorphine), as well as a program designed to build a sense of community and accountability. In addition, members gain access to services through Groups’ holistic care model, which is backed by the belief that long-term recovery from opioids is tied to social, behavioral and economic factors that aren’t typically addressed in traditional treatment models. Learn more at joingroups.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
