Addiction Treatment Centers: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Hazelden Betty Ford led the Addiction Treatment Centers benchmark in September 2026 with 7.0% valid recommendation coverage. The gap between Hazelden Betty Ford and the next brand, Caron Treatment Centers, stood at 5.4 percentage points in September 2026.

The largest coverage increase belonged to Hazelden Betty Ford, which rose to 7.0% in September 2026 from 2.8% in July 2026. The largest coverage decline was The Recovery Village, which fell to 0.0% in September 2026 from 4.2% in July 2026, after recording 4.2% coverage in July 2026 and 0.0% in August 2026. Hazelden Betty Ford experienced the sharpest month-over-month decline, falling to 7.0% in September 2026 from 25.2% in August 2026, a move beyond normal month-to-month variation. No tracked brand recorded a coverage increase beyond normal variation in September 2026.

The series shows movement concentrated in the middle month. Hazelden Betty Ford's coverage rose to 25.2% in August 2026 before settling at 7.0% in September 2026, still above its July 2026 level of 2.8%. Caron Treatment Centers followed a similar arc, reaching 6.1% in August 2026 then declining to 1.6% in September 2026. The benchmark drew on 435 prompt-surface observations in July 2026 and 681 in September 2026, producing 128 qualified observations in September 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

August 2026 sat between the baseline and current months, with 99 qualified observations and a leader share of 25.2% for Hazelden Betty Ford. 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

The prior-to-current month moves show a different pattern. Hazelden Betty Ford declined to 7.0% in September 2026 from 25.2% in August 2026, beyond normal month-to-month variation, after a sharp rise in August. Caron Treatment Centers declined to 1.6% in September 2026 from 6.1% in August 2026. Recovery Centers of America declined in each of the two months since July 2026, moving to 2.0% in August 2026 and then 0.0% in September 2026.

Largest Increase: Hazelden Betty Ford

Hazelden Betty Ford's valid recommendation coverage rose to 7.0% in September 2026 from 2.8% in July 2026, with its top-three rate reaching 6.2% in September 2026 from 1.4% in July 2026 and its rank-one rate reaching 5.5% from 1.4%. The brand recorded 9 valid recommendations in September 2026 compared with 2 in July 2026. Net sentiment stood at 0.43 in September 2026, down from 0.51 in July 2026.

Largest Decline: The Recovery Village

The Recovery Village's valid recommendation coverage fell to 0.0% in September 2026 from 4.2% in July 2026. The brand went from 3 valid recommendations in July 2026 to 0 in September 2026, after being the benchmark leader at baseline. Its top-three rate and rank-one rate both fell to 0.0% in September 2026 from 2.8% in July 2026. Presence rate declined to 25.8% in September 2026 from 27.8% in July 2026.

Category Leader: Hazelden Betty Ford

Hazelden Betty Ford led the benchmark in September 2026 with 7.0% valid recommendation coverage. Its 9 valid recommendations exceeded the next highest brand, Caron Treatment Centers, which recorded 2 valid recommendations. Hazelden Betty Ford's presence rate declined to 45.3% in September 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 September 2026. Its top-three rate of 6.2% and rank-one rate of 5.5% show that most of its recommendations placed it at the first position. Caron Treatment Centers recorded a lower placement profile, with a 1.6% top-three rate and no rank-one placements. American Addiction Centers and Gateway Foundation both held low coverage in September 2026 but American Addiction Centers received no top-three placements while Gateway Foundation recorded a 0.8% top-three rate.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. Caron Treatment Centers and Gateway Foundation each held 1.6% and 0.8% coverage respectively in September 2026, yet neither recorded any rank-one placements, while Hazelden Betty Ford converted its coverage into a 5.5% rank-one rate.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both July and September 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.

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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