Pathway Healthcare helps with addiction, chemical dependence

MADISON – Pathway Healthcare is a primary care clinic for people who suffer from addiction and chemical dependence. Its staff is fighting the opioid epidemic in North Alabama communities.

“The pain of addiction and chemical dependence can be treated,” Dr. Brett Boyett said. Boyett is Executive Medical Director and Founder of Pathway Healthcare. Scott Olson of Dallas, Texas is CEO of Pathway Healthcare.

“There’s a specific and fully recognized medical community devoted to helping people with this chronic disease. Help is available — people just need to know where to find it,” Boyett said.

Boyett cited a World Health Organization report from 2011 that found the United States has about 4.5-percent of the world’s population yet consumes about 80 percent of the world’s opioid pain relievers. Furthermore, Centers for Disease Control in 2013 stated that Alabama ranks number one of all 50 states for per capita pain pill abuse. Tennessee ranks second.

“This puts North Alabama in the epicenter for the prescription pain pill abuse epidemic for the whole world,” Boyett said. A critical component to the crisis is the lack of training for doctors and healthcare workers to diagnose addiction.

“‘Chronic pain’ has become the politically correct diagnosis to describe ‘opioid dependence,'” Boyett said. “The word ‘addiction’ conjures up images of a villain; the term ‘chronic pain’ allows the patient to be a victim. Addiction is … usually a situation of a good person with a bad problem.”

When he worked in primary care and emergency medicine, Boyett began to see some patients that nurses called “frequent flyers” or “seekers.” These patients visited doctors and emergency rooms complaining of pain and seeking opiods.

In 2012, Boyott attained board certification in “Addiction Medicine.”

In part, Boyett entered the field of medicine because his brother died while on the waiting list for a heart transplant. “I wanted to understand the science of health and disease. I also wanted to understand the healthcare system,” Boyett said.

After earning a bachelor’s degree at Birmingham-Southern College, Boyett graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Dentistry in 1994. He then earned a medical degree from the University of Health Science College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Mo. in 1998.

Boyett has worked in family medicine and general dentistry in Hamilton, Ala. and in ERs in Corinth and Amory, Miss. and in Red Bay, Hamilton and Winfield. He chose to practice in Madison because his brother Dr. Patrick Boyett and former partner Dr. Jason Hatfield work in the Athens area.

His wife Sandra Boyett is a certified registered nurse anesthetist. The Boyetts have twins, Zachary and Austin.

For more information, call 256-325-1598, email info@pathwayhealthcare.com or visit pathwayhealthcare.com or Facebook/pathwaycenters.