CRC Health Group has pioneered the use of the Internet to provide addiction treatment, but only about 1,000 people have sought help online since the company launched its Web-based program in 2001.

The San Jose Mercury News reported Feb. 21 that while CRC has been successful in filling beds in its 87 treatment facilities in 21 states, the online eGetgoing.com program has been, well, slow to get going. This despite the fact that only one in five people who need treatment get it, and that eGetgoing is the nation's only accredited online treatment program.

CRC founder Barry Karlin said the main problem is that insurers have been reluctant to pay for online addiction therapy. "It's an entirely different mode of providing treatment," he said, where addicts log on twice weekly for anonymous counseling sessions using streaming video, headsets, microphones, and screen names.

The program costs $1,200 and includes two dozen counseling sessions and a year of aftercare.