Choosing Eating Disorder Treatment in the Age of Hybrid Care

A Guide for Loved Ones, Patients, & Providers

Choosing eating disorder treatment can feel overwhelming, especially in a care environment that has evolved so quickly in recent years. As virtual and hybrid models have expanded, patients, families, and providers are now navigating more options than ever before — along with more uncertainty about what type of care is truly appropriate. This guide was created to help bring clarity, confidence, and clinical perspective to that process. 

As a physician who has spent the past eighteen years treating eating disorders across the full continuum of care — from the bedside of medically fragile hospitalized patients to virtual treatment settings — I have seen firsthand how important it is to match treatment to the individual. Eating disorders are serious, complex illnesses that require thoughtful, evidence-based, and highly personalized care. There is no single treatment path that works for everyone, and decisions about care should always be grounded in clinical need. 

At Inner Haven Wellness, our primary purpose is to deliver quality eating disorder treatment services. We do this through a constant commitment to the training, development, and supervision of our treatment team members. When you join the Inner Haven Wellness team, you receive industry-leading professional development rooted in clinical excellence, compassion, and collaboration. That same commitment is reflected in resources like this one — created to help families, patients, and professionals make more informed decisions in a rapidly changing treatment landscape. 

Throughout my career, I have been deeply committed not only to patient care, but also to advancing education and standards within the field. I am passionate about helping professionals — especially medical providers — recognize eating disorders earlier and treat patients using the latest evidence-based practices. My work has included publishing on the medical complications of eating disorders, lecturing nationally and internationally, contributing to the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Eating Disorders, and serving in leadership and advisory roles across respected organizations in the field. All of that work reinforces a belief I hold strongly: patients and families deserve clear, responsible, and clinically sound guidance when evaluating treatment options. 

Inside this guide, you will find practical information to help you better understand levels of care, assess whether a program is an appropriate fit, identify meaningful questions to ask, and recognize red flags that may signal inadequate or misleading treatment models. It is meant to be used as a resource and reference point — whether you are seeking care for yourself, supporting a loved one, or helping patients navigate next steps in recovery. 

My hope is that this document helps you approach these decisions with greater confidence and a stronger understanding of what quality care should look like. Recovery is possible, but the path should be individualized, ethically guided, and supported by a team equipped to meet the full complexity of the illness. When we make treatment decisions based on clinical need and evidence, we give patients the best possible chance to heal.¹

1. This guide was developed by the Residential Eating Disorders Consortium (REDC) in response to growing questions from families, clinicians, and treatment providers about how to evaluate eating disorder care in an increasingly compl¹ex treatment landscape. As the national consortium representing eating disorder treatment programs, REDC works to advance evidence-based standards of care and ethical treatment practices across the field. This resource was created to help patients, loved ones, and professionals better understand levels of care, evaluate treatment options, and make informed decisions grounded in clinical need.  ↩︎