A Marketing-Claim Checklist for Comparing Opioid Rehab in California

Use six rows in your comparison notes: availability, outcomes, staffing, amenities, accreditation or licensing, and coverage. For each row, write the exact claim, the evidence requested, what you received, who provided it, and its date. Add a final status: confirmed, needs review, or not established. This turns a broad impression into an auditable decision record.

Ask availability questions precisely: “Is the relevant service accepting admissions now?” “Does that answer apply to the person’s circumstances?” “When was availability last checked?” A bed count, facility capacity, or invitation to call is not proof of an opening. Ask what review remains before any admission decision and whether you should call again at a particular time. Keep the answer in needs review until it is current and specific enough to be useful, and never treat an initial conversation as a placement promise. Claims about immediate access should remain not established unless the facility confirms the relevant facts for that moment and person.

• What exactly is being claimed, and does it apply today?
• Who can verify it, and what current source supports it?
• Does the answer apply to this person rather than to patients generally?] },{

For staffing, ask which roles are on site, during which periods, and which professionals participate in assessment or care decisions. Ask whether the answer describes employees, contractors, on-call support, or referrals. Request the source and date for any credential claim. A list of professional titles does not establish that every professional is present around the clock or assigned to a particular person.

For services, ask what the term means operationally: who delivers it, whether it is available now, how eligibility is determined, and whether it is part of the quoted program or an external referral. For amenities, ask whether an item is available to every resident, shared, restricted, subject to room assignment, or temporarily unavailable. Photographs can be useful context, but they do not establish current room type or access. For licensing or accreditation, ask for the issuing body, exact entity and location covered, identifier, scope, and current status. SAMHSA quality guidance supports asking about licensing, accreditation, evidence-supported care, medications when clinically appropriate, family involvement, and continuing-care planning. Asking does not mean every option is appropriate or available.

• Which named role provides the service, and when is that role available?
• Does the claim cover this legal entity, address, program, and current period?
• Is an amenity guaranteed, conditional, shared, or simply pictured?

Ask for the outcome definition, measurement date, follow-up period, sample size, inclusion and exclusion rules, missing-data treatment, data collection method, and whether an independent party reviewed the analysis. Ask whether the denominator includes everyone admitted, only people who completed a program, or only people reached later. Those groups can produce very different figures. Also ask whether the claim concerns substance use, continued engagement in care, health, housing, work, or another measure.

Keep a result in needs review if the facility provides a number without methods. Mark it not established if no supporting source is available. Even a well-documented group result cannot predict one person’s result. Avoid ranking facilities solely by percentages drawn from different definitions or time periods. A more honest comparison table may say “definition supplied,” “follow-up period supplied,” “missing data explained,” and “independent review identified,” with yes, no, or unclear in each cell. This avoids turning a marketing metric into an individual promise.

• What is the exact definition of the reported outcome?
• Who entered the calculation, and who was excluded?
• How long after care was the outcome measured? What happened to missing responses?