Alternative Outpatient Services

Alternative Outpatient Services, based in Lafayette, LA, is one of the SAMHSA-registered treatment programs operating in LA. The facility's programming is outpatient (Outpatient), not residential. What this page can help with is the frame — what to ask, what to verify, what to compare against.

Care levels at Alternative Outpatient Services

The care-level question matters because what a facility offers is what it can realistically treat well. Alternative Outpatient Services is an outpatient-focused program (Outpatient) — patients live at home or in sober living and attend treatment sessions. This level of care is clinically appropriate for mild-to-moderate substance use disorder, or for patients stepping down from residential. Before admission, an independent clinical assessment (from a primary-care doctor, licensed substance-use counselor, or addiction-medicine physician) can confirm whether Alternative Outpatient Services's offerings match the clinical need.

Insurance and payment

Alternative Outpatient Services operates primarily on commercial insurance. The implication for patients: higher typical cost-share, potentially more intensive programming, and the full burden of MHPAEA parity-rule dynamics — including appeal rights when the plan denies. What tends to produce post-admission financial surprise is not the facility being out of network — it is the verbal assurance that did not make it into writing. Ask for the written VOB before admission, save the email, and the rest of the financial conversation becomes a lot simpler.

Before you call

Before admission to Alternative Outpatient Services, three questions consistently produce the most useful information: (1) which ASAM level of care are you treating me at, and what is the clinical rationale; (2) can you send me a written Verification of Benefits for my specific insurance plan; (3) what is your policy on medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder — specifically, do you continue patients on buprenorphine or methadone during residential programming. If the clinical situation involves opioid use disorder, confirm explicitly whether Alternative Outpatient Services offers medication-assisted treatment — buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone. Programs that do not are operating outside the current standard of care.