Our History
In 1987 the “treatment industry” was in crisis and on the verge of complete collapse. At the hands of the “managed cost revolution”, the national capacity of 35,000 treatment beds shrunk to less than 3,000. Most providers were helpless and had little or no ability to demonstrate to funders and payers that their services were making any difference in communities across the country.
In response to this catastrophic implosion in behavioral health treatment funding, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) created the Committee on Benefits (COB). COB was tasked with finding ways to address the challenges created by the “managed cost” revolution as well as expanded access to treatment for previously underserved populations.
In 2000, COB spun off from NCADD and became C4 Recovery Solutions, a 501 (c) 3. Well known as C4, the newly formed not-for-profit organization expanded its goals to include enlarging access to quality behavioral treatment services for disadvantaged people, as well as improving their clinical and financial accountability. C4 advanced these priorities by initiating constructive dialogue among interested groups, and by educating and motivating policy makers to embrace new strategies. C4 also aiding in the design and construction of these programs while working diligently to implement outcomes-based service models by educating payers and providers across the country.
As a result of becoming an “educator” in behavioral health and addiction, C4 expanded its efforts by entering the conference arena in 1999. Through the purchase of the Cape Cod Symposium on Addictive Disorders, and other national conferences, including the West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders, C4 became the preeminent provider of high-quality education for treatment providers.
The past four years saw a deterioration in the conference business model, resulting in C4 selling the division to the largest provider of medical conferences in the world, HMP Global. The sale provides C4 the opportunity to focus deeply on our mission and the foundation’s work in advocacy and policy making. This important work is our passion and our calling.