Addiction Treatment Centers: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Hazelden Betty Ford led the Addiction Treatment Centers benchmark in August 2026 with 25.2% valid recommendation coverage, up from 2.8% in July 2026. The gap between Hazelden Betty Ford and the next brand, Caron Treatment Centers, stood at 19.1 percentage points in August 2026.

The largest coverage increase belonged to Hazelden Betty Ford, which rose to 25.2% in August 2026 from 2.8% in July 2026. Caron Treatment Centers recorded the next largest increase, moving to 6.1% in August 2026 from 0.0% in July 2026. No tracked brand recorded a significant coverage decline; the largest decrease was The Recovery Village, which fell to 0.0% in August 2026 from 4.2% in July 2026.

The benchmark began with 435 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 99 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation in the month. The six families are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Addiction Treatment Centers

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology for full details.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in any capacity. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand receives a recommendation that is usable for a buyer decision. Top-three rate is the share of observations where the brand appears in one of the first three recommended positions. Rank-one rate is the share of observations where the brand is the single first recommendation. Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions, scaled from 0 to 1 where 1 is entirely positive.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: Hazelden Betty Ford

Hazelden Betty Ford's valid recommendation coverage rose to 25.2% in August 2026 from 2.8% in July 2026, a move beyond normal month-to-month variation. The brand also increased its top-three rate to 9.1% in August 2026 from 1.4% in July 2026, and its rank-one rate to 7.1% in August 2026 from 1.4% in July 2026. Net sentiment improved to 0.72 in August 2026 from 0.51 in July 2026.

Largest Increase: Caron Treatment Centers

Caron Treatment Centers moved to 6.1% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 from 0.0% in July 2026. The brand recorded only 6 valid recommendations in August 2026, a small count that limits what can be concluded. Its top-three rate reached 2.0% and rank-one rate 1.0% in August 2026, both up from 0.0% in July 2026. Net sentiment rose to 0.86 in August 2026 from 0.50 in July 2026.

Category Leader: Hazelden Betty Ford

Hazelden Betty Ford led the benchmark in August 2026 with 25.2% valid recommendation coverage. Its 25 valid recommendations exceeded the next highest brand, Caron Treatment Centers, which recorded 6 valid recommendations. Hazelden Betty Ford's presence rate fell to 36.4% in August 2026 from 65.3% in July 2026, meaning its recommendations became more concentrated relative to its broader mention presence.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Hazelden Betty Ford led the benchmark in both top-three and rank-one placement in August 2026. Its top-three rate of 9.1% and rank-one rate of 7.1% show that a substantial share of its recommendations placed it at the first position. Caron Treatment Centers recorded a lower but positive placement profile, with a 2.0% top-three rate and 1.0% rank-one rate. American Addiction Centers and Gateway Foundation both held presence in August 2026 but received no recommendation placements.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. Recovery Centers of America held 2.0% coverage in August 2026 but no first-position placements, while Caron Treatment Centers converted its 6.1% coverage into a 1.0% rank-one rate. Close coverage can still hide very different first-position strength.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both July and August 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes. Price, value, and head-to-head comparison have no public signal in this data.

Historical Measurement Record

New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. It records the change; it does not establish why the change occurred.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral monthly benchmark tracking how AI and search surfaces recommend brands across canonical surface families. It is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper. The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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