90-Day Drug and Alcohol Rehab Programs

Finding the right addiction treatment program can be a beneficial way to start the path to recovery, provide peace of mind, and help you or your loved one get the treatment they need.

While all addiction treatment programs can be helpful, research indicates that most people need at least 3 months in treatment to significantly stop or reduce their substance use.¹

90-day rehab programs are designed to provide a specific duration of care to help people develop and cement new skills that are needed to achieve and maintain sobriety.¹

What Are 90-Day Rehabilitation Programs?

90-day treatment programs are inpatient or outpatient rehabs that treat individuals struggling with addiction, or substance use disorder (SUD). People can achieve 90 days in treatment in a variety of ways, such as by participating in a residential program, entering a combined program where they spend 30 days or so in an inpatient program and then step down to an outpatient program for the remaining duration, or starting directly in an outpatient program.^1,2

What happens in rehab? While each person is unique and treatment can look different for everyone, people commonly participate in a variety of therapies and interventions in 90-day programs, including cognitive behavioral therapy, contingency management, groups, and 12-step programs.¹

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 90 days is often advisable to produce significant outcomes, and better outcomes are associated with longer durations of treatment.¹ A 90-day program can provide people with the time they need to fully focus on their recovery and offer greater opportunities to learn and practice the skills that are necessary to remain abstinent.

Starting a 90-Day Program

Everyone has different needs, which are assessed during a person’s initial evaluation prior to admission to a 90-day rehab.³ The evaluation, which is conducted by a team of addiction professionals, helps establish the correct SUD diagnosis, identifies a person’s unique needs, and determines the appropriate initial treatment setting.³

A person’s specific treatment plan and process can vary depending on the substance they use, their unique needs, and the rehab facility they attend.

Additionally, there are various levels of rehab care to help people who are in different stages of their recovery.⁴ People can transition between these levels of care as their needs change, and this should be assessed continuously throughout treatment.¹

The general treatment process typically includes a continuum of care that involves detox, followed by rehab, and then some form of aftercare.¹ Addiction treatment professionals refer to the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s (ASAM) levels of care, which necessitates a comprehensive continuum of care.⁴ The ASAM strengths-based, multidimensional assessment examines all of a person’s needs and helps determine the appropriate setting across this continuum.⁴

What to Expect in 90-Day Rehab

A patient’s treatment plan and process will be tailored to their unique needs at the time of initial evaluation and intake.³However, as a person progresses in treatment, they can transition between levels of care, which might mean they step up to inpatient care from outpatient rehab if necessary, or they transition to a lower level of care after completing an inpatient program.¹

People can expect to participate in a variety of therapies, engage in different treatments, including medication management if necessary, and receive ongoing support and encouragement in one or more levels of care during 90-day drug and alcohol rehab programs.

Medical Detoxification

Detox is designed to help people safely and comfortably undergo withdrawal, often with the use of medications, in a medically supervised detox facility.¹ Although detox, also referred to as withdrawal management, can be an important and potentially life-saving intervention in some cases, it is not a substitute for more comprehensive rehabilitation/treatment efforts.¹ Three key elements of the detoxification process include:⁵

• A comprehensive evaluation.
• Stabilization, or the actual withdrawal process.
• Fostering patient readiness for and entry into treatment, which helps people enter ongoing addiction treatment.

Inpatient Treatment

An individual lives and sleeps onsite at a treatment facility and receives 24/7 care and attention while in inpatient rehab. Inpatient rehab settings can be helpful for certain people, such as those with co-occurring conditions, histories of prior relapse, prior severe or complicated withdrawal (including prior seizures), other significant medical and mental health issues, home environments that are not supportive, and those requiring withdrawal management, addiction treatment medications, or medical supervision.⁶

Outpatient Treatment

An individual can live at home when engaged in outpatient treatment, but should have access to reliable transportation to be able to attend treatment on a regular schedule.³ There are different levels of outpatient care at a 90-day treatment program, including:³

• Standard outpatient drug and alcohol rehab, which may require treatment attendance one to several times a week.
• Intensive outpatient programs (IOPs), which offer 9-20 hours of treatment per week.
• High-intensity outpatient programs (HIOPs), also known as partial hospitalization programs (PHPs), which offer 4-8 hours of daily treatment.

Outpatient treatment is different from inpatient, because people are allowed to leave the facility, sleep at home, and, in many cases, continue to attend to daily responsibilities.³ Standard outpatient care can be the first part of a complete continuum of care, in that some people may start treatment here if they do not require 24-hour supervision, but it can also be a transitional level of care, in that some people may move to outpatient rehab as a step-down from inpatient treatment.^4,7

Therapy Programs

This typically includes one or more different types of behavioral therapies, as well as support groups and community supports.⁷

Common behavioral therapies for addiction include:⁷

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which teaches people new ways of thinking and behaving, helps them recognize and avoid risky situations that can lead to relapse, and helps them achieve and maintain abstinence.
• Contingency management (CM), which uses positive reinforcements to encourage desired behavioral changes.
• Motivational interviewing (MI), which is a client-centered strategy designed to explore and reduce a person’s ambivalence toward treatment.
• 12-step facilitation, which provides familiarization and encourages participation in 12-step mutual support groups.

Therapy can take place in different settings, such as:

• Private individual counseling sessions where you work one-on-one with your own therapist on issues that are important to your recovery.³
• Group settings, where you work in a group with others in recovery, led by a trained therapist.³
• Family therapy, if appropriate to your situation, which means your family members can participate in sessions that address specific relationship issues that can be related to addiction.⁷

Aftercare

This is also known as continuing care, and refers to ongoing forms of treatment that can help support a person’s recovery, monitor their condition, and respond to a return to substance use, that takes place beyond the initial 90-day treatment period.^1,3

Rehab aftercare can include different forms of support, such as:

• A different level of care, depending on your needs. For example, you may transition to an outpatient program if you’ve completed inpatient rehab.⁷
• Individual or group therapy.
• Sober living, or supportive recovery housing that helps people transition back to their daily lives.³
• 12-step or non-12-step support groups.³

Benefits of Choosing a 90-Day Addiction Program

Entering a longer addiction treatment program, including 90-day treatment centers, may provide different benefits, such as:

• Removing you from your environment and providing a stable place to live (if you opt for inpatient rehab), so you can focus on your recovery.⁸
• Offering a safe, welcoming, and substance-free environment where you can meet others who are also in recovery.³
• Providing a place where you can undergo detox in a supportive and medically supervised environment.³
• Offering support to your loved ones.²
• Sufficient time to begin to learn and practice new skills and coping mechanisms.¹
• Assistance with managing stress and substance cravings.¹
• A better chance of a positive treatment outcome.¹
• Help for co-occurring disorders.¹
• A structured schedule and routine, which is important for recovery.⁹
• The opportunity to participate in support groups.³

Paying for 90-Day Rehab for Drug and Alcohol Addiction

People often wonder about paying for 90-day rehabilitation programs. If they have health insurance, they might want to know whether their insurance will cover the costs, while those without insurance may want to know how to make a 90-day treatment program financially possible. Health insurance should provide some level of coverage for 90-day treatment centers, but the exact coverage can vary by plan.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) states that mental health and substance misuse services are essential health benefits (EHBs) and all plans are required to offer some sort of coverage.¹⁰ People may be able to use Marketplace, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs (VA) health plan coverage, and Cobra to help pay for addiction treatment, but should check the specifics with their plan administrator.^10-14

If you don’t have insurance or your plan doesn’t cover all of the costs of treatment, you can consider different ways to pay for rehab, such as government-funded rehab, or rehabs that may offer sliding scales, payment plans, scholarships, or other forms of payment assistance based on certain requirements.¹⁵

How to Find a 90-Day Rehab Program Near Me

Seeking addiction treatment can be an important step in regaining control of your life and starting the path to recovery. If you’re ready to take the next step and want to locate a 90-day rehab program, explore finding rehabs using the recovery.org treatment directory.