HandHeldMonitoring

HandHeld Monitoring applications

HandHeld Monitoring was built with an addiction treatment center. The same daily check-in, random drug and alcohol testing and same-day alerts help coaches, families, courts, clinicians and teams act in real time, when help is most needed.

The same building blocks

Five pieces, set up for each program

Daily check-inMood, stress, craving, life satisfaction and medication, by phone, web or smartphone
Voice journalA short recording in the person’s own words, every day
Random drug and alcohol testsTest days scheduled at random, so there’s no window to plan around
Act in real timeAlarms go to the people who should act. Tickets are assigned and tracked to completion. Dashboards and statistics give you the big picture and trends on your clients and your service.
Designed to be admissible for evidentiary useEvery check-in and test: completed, missed, passed or failed. Medical Review Officer certified test results. Authenticated SMS transmission records.

Who it helps

Where HandHeld Monitoring is used

Nothing is shared without the person’s consent, and each person sees only what their role needs.

Treatment

Addiction treatment centers

Where HandHeld Monitoring started. Built with ABC Recovery Center in Palm Desert, California, and used there every day since 2018. Better for the center, the client and the people who love them.

For the treatment center

  • More clients complete treatment: 70% at ABC vs. 48% nationally
  • Clients stay longer: 85 days on average vs. 79
  • Caseworkers spend time on the clients who need it today
  • Outcomes data ready for CARF and Medi-Cal

For the client

  • Structure and accountability every day, not only at appointments
  • Someone notices a bad day before it becomes a relapse
  • Learns to name and understand their own feelings, a skill tied to staying sober
  • Works on any phone, including a basic or government-issued one

For family and loved ones

  • Know their person is checking in and staying on track
  • Act early, when help is most needed
  • Less guessing and less policing at home
  • The client chooses who is told, and what
70%

completed treatment
(national average 48%)

85

days average stay
(national average 79)

623

clients monitored
Sept 2018 – Jan 2026

“Relapses have dropped dramatically since we adopted HandHeld Monitoring. Clients are more accountable to program compliance. We can monitor our clients more closely and evade relapses when there is a hint of trouble.”

Johnny Courreges · Sober Living & Transitional Living Manager, ABC Recovery Center

ABC Recovery Center, Palm Desert, CA — Newsweek Top Addiction Treatment Center 2021–2023. Results published in RecoveryView.

Check-inVoice journalRandom drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsCARFEvidentiary use
$

How Medi-Cal covers HandHeld Monitoring

1. Which treatment centers qualify

In California, Medi-Cal pays for substance use disorder treatment through Drug Medi-Cal. In most counties it runs as the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS), managed by the county behavioral health department. To bill it, a program needs:

  • a state license or certification for its level of care (residential or outpatient)
  • Drug Medi-Cal certification from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) for each site
  • a provider contract with its county’s DMC-ODS plan

Most centers that already treat Medi-Cal clients have all three.

2. How HandHeld Monitoring is reimbursed

HandHeld Monitoring becomes part of the treatment services the center already bills to Medi-Cal. ABC Recovery Center has included it in its Medi-Cal budget with Riverside County since 2018, so the net cost to the center is $0.

Billing codes and claim steps differ from county to county. We help map HandHeld Monitoring to your existing county contract.

3. Why it pays back

The same daily records that drive the alerts document the care your staff delivers, and feed your county Medi-Cal and CARF reports. At ABC, clients stay 85 days on average, against 79 nationally, and every extra day of treatment is a reimbursed day.

General Medi-Cal rules: California Department of Health Care Services. Details depend on your county.

Ask how it works in your county

Recovery

Sober coaches and recovery coaches

A coach can’t be there every day. With a daily check-in and voice journal, they see how each client is doing between calls, and are alerted to a missed check-in, rising cravings or a failed test, so they can act when help is most needed.

“For a caseworker like myself, this is an effective and revolutionary tool… Handheld monitoring is a tool which I am now recommending to all of my clients.”

David L. MalowSober coach, Recovery GPS, Palm Desert, California

“I’ve utilized many monitoring programs across the country, and Handheld Monitoring has proven to be the most thorough, efficient, and customer friendly out of all programs I have utilized. … Handheld monitoring provides me extra, daily client data and information that other monitoring programs leave out.”

Ward Blanchard, CSI, LCAS, M.A., M.B.A.Marriage and family therapist and interventionist, Charlotte, North Carolina
Check-inVoice journalRandom drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Family

Concerned family members

When an adult son, daughter or partner agrees to be monitored, the family no longer has to guess or play detective. The person checks in each day, tests are random, and the family can act early, with less policing at home. The person chooses what the family is told.

Check-inRandom drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Justice

Probation, drug courts and pretrial programs

A dated record of every check-in and test gives the court or the probation officer daily evidence of compliance instead of occasional spot checks. Urine tests go to LabCorp, a SAMHSA-certified laboratory, with a documented chain of custody and review by our Medical Review Officer.

Random drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Justice

Family court and parenting time

When a court or a co-parenting agreement requires a parent to stay sober, random tests and a daily check-in give both sides, and the court, a neutral record to rely on, rather than one person’s word against the other’s.

Check-inRandom drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Sport

Athletes, teams and clean-sport programs

Testing only works when it can’t be predicted. Test days are scheduled at random and the athlete is told that morning, so there’s no window to plan around, and every test is on a dated record. The substances tested are agreed with each program.

Random drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Health care

Medication management

Every day the person reports whether they took their medication, so the physician, pharmacist or nurse sees adherence between appointments, not just at the next refill. A missed dose or a run of bad days is flagged, so someone can act before it becomes a problem.

Check-inAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Mental health

Psychotherapy and counseling

Between weekly sessions, the client records their mood, stress and a short voice journal each day. The therapist starts each session knowing how the week actually went, rather than relying on memory, and is alerted if distress rises.

Check-inVoice journalAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Work

Professional health and return-to-work programs

Programs for nurses, physicians, pilots and other professionals in safety-sensitive jobs need daily accountability and a record they can stand behind. Random drug and alcohol tests, daily check-ins and a dated record support a monitored return to work.

Check-inRandom drug & alcohol testsAlarms & TicketsEvidentiary use

Have a use we haven’t listed?

Tell us who you support and what you need to know between appointments. We’ll tell you honestly whether HandHeld Monitoring fits.

Talk to us