Ria Health Reviews: Insurance-Billed Alcohol Treatment With No Posted Price

Ria at a glance

What you'll pay depends on your plan, and Ria doesn't post it

Ria says the program "offers two monthly payment options," is FSA and HSA eligible, and costs less out of pocket than most outpatient programs. It doesn't publish either price.² You learn the number on a free enrollment call, where an agent checks your insurance and prequalifies you.²

What Ria's own documents do say about money:

The poster prices are 7 to 8 years old and don't show what Ria charges now.

The annual-plan clause and the deductible clause line up with the complaints. One Trustpilot reviewer said they were told they'd never pay more than $300 a month, then got an $864 bill months in; another said they were charged $620 over two months after cancelling. Ria replied to both and asked them to get in touch. In one reply, Ria said insurance processing can make balances appear later than expected.⁴ These are individual accounts we couldn't check, but they show what to ask before you enroll:

1. Is Ria in network with my exact plan, and how much of my deductible is left?
2. Which of the two payment options am I on, and is it an annual plan?
3. If I cancel after three months, what is the most I could owe?

Which insurers Ria lists

Ria's pages don't give one list.

Cigna and Beacon Health Options appear only on the FAQ, and Carelon only on the insurance page.

Ratings: Trustpilot is positive, the new app isn't

Ria's ratings on October 17, 2026:

The App Store page for Ria's older iPhone app now returns an error, so its earlier ratings can't be seen.¹⁹ Ria invites customers to leave Trustpilot reviews, so its score includes invited reviews. The one-star reviews center on surprise bills, insurance coverage that turned out to depend on a deductible, and one person who expected help with withdrawal.⁴ Several positive reviews on Apple and Trustpilot praise individual coaches.^14,15 For first-person accounts of taking naltrexone, see naltrexone reviews.

The program: a prescriber, a weekly coach and a breathalyzer

Your first medical visit is by video with a licensed nurse or physician, who reviews your history and decides which medication, if any, fits.^9,10 After that, the program has three parts:

• Coaching. Weekly one-on-one video meetings, plus messaging and coach-led groups. The FAQ describes the check-ins as 15 minutes.^9,11 Ria says its coaches hold credentials to practice substance abuse counseling in their state and use methods such as motivational interviewing and CBT.⁹
• Breath tests. Ria ships every new member a Bluetooth breathalyzer at no extra charge. Readings sync to the app, and your care team and any supporters you choose can see them.^9,12
• Length. Ria encourages members to stay 12 months.⁹

Moderation is allowed. Ria's posters describe controlled drinking as a goal the program supports.⁷ A separate Medication-Only Program also exists; its prescriptions are bought by Ria and filled by Honeybee Health.⁹

Five medications, and two are approved for alcohol

Ria's FAQ lists the same five drugs and correctly calls three of them off-label. An earlier answer on the same page says AUD medications are "all approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)."⁹ In a July 2026 Trustpilot reply, Ria listed "FDA-approved options like naltrexone, acamprosate, and gabapentin."⁴ Gabapentin is not FDA-approved for alcohol use disorder.²⁴ Trial results for these off-label options are summarized on our medicines page.

In practice, most members get naltrexone. Ria's 2020 poster found 81.7% of 1,045 patients started on it, and naltrexone with gabapentin was the most common pairing.⁷

Points to raise with your prescriber:

• Ria often uses naltrexone as needed. Its FAQ says people on naltrexone "typically take it an hour before they expect to drink."⁹ That is off-label. The FDA label studied 50 mg once a day as part of a full treatment program.²⁰ Our Sinclair Method page covers the evidence for targeted dosing.
• Acamprosate is labeled for people who have stopped. Ria offers it in a program that also supports cutting back.^6,22 It isn't for people with severe kidney impairment.²²
• Baclofen needs a slow stop. Stopping it suddenly can cause hallucinations and seizures.²¹
• Overclaims. Ria's naltrexone page says "our medication eliminates alcohol cravings." The label says naltrexone hasn't been shown to help except as part of a full treatment plan.^20,25
• If you take any opioid, say so at intake. Naltrexone can't be used with opioid pain medicine, methadone or buprenorphine. Its label also warns about liver injury and about overdose if opioids are used after stopping.²⁰

The evidence: one published study, from Ria's own patients

Ria's peer-reviewed evidence is one observational study, published in 2020 in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. Four researchers at Friends Research Institute and Ria's chief medical officer, John Mendelson, looked at daily breathalyzer readings from 77 patients over their first 90 days.²⁶ Ria's team page also lists Mendelson as a senior research scientist at Friends Research Institute.⁵

• 55% were still in treatment at day 90.
• Among those who stayed, average breath alcohol fell about 50%, from .091 to .045.
• There was no comparison group. The authors call the results preliminary and say studies with random assignment and comparison groups are needed.²⁶

Ria's research page also links three posters drawn from the same patient records, so their patients likely overlap with the study's. The page introduces them as "peer-reviewed studies," but none is a journal article.²⁷ The 2020 poster found that 36% of patients remained in treatment at 6 months, and that average breath alcohol fell from 0.077 to 0.027, about 65%.⁷

Ria's site says members cut drinking by 75% on average after 12 months, and that "members actively in treatment" cut it 50% in the first month.^2,9 We couldn't find the 75% figure in the text of the published study or the posters Ria links.^26,27 Both claims describe people who stayed, and the study shows nearly half had left by 90 days.

Who runs Ria

Ria's website and app are operated by Ria Technology Management Inc, which also uses the name DxRx. The clinicians who treat you are independent professionals, and Ria's terms say Ria itself does not practice medicine.³ The medical team is led by chief medical officer John Mendelson, MD, a professor of medicine at UCSF.⁵ Ria says it has helped over 4,000 people moderate or quit.⁶

Two outside bodies have reviewed it. Ria holds The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval for Behavioral Health Care, and LegitScript certifies its website in the category "In-Person Addiction Treatment."²⁸

Privacy

Ria's privacy policy limits ad-network sharing to the public riahealth.com site, not member areas, and its confidentiality page says "Do we sell your data? Absolutely not."^29,30 The app's store disclosures disagree with each other. Apple's label, supplied by the developer, lists health and fitness data, contact info and usage data as linked to you, while Google Play's section says "No data collected."^15,16 Treat the Play claim with caution: an app that records breath alcohol readings collects health data.

Who Ria fits

Ria fits someone with alcohol use disorder, on an Anthem, UnitedHealthcare, Oxford or Carelon plan, who wants medication chosen by a clinician from more than one option, plus a coach every week.

Ria is a poor fit if you:

• may have severe withdrawal. Get medical supervision or detox first.⁸
• are on Medicaid, which Ria doesn't take.¹
• want a known price before any phone call.

Ria and Workit take insurance; only Workit posts its prices

For app-first programs with cash prices, see our Sunnyside review and Oar Health review.

How we checked

• Read on October 17, 2026: Ria's homepage and its pages on how it works, consultations, team, insurance, FAQ, locations, treatment, medications, coaching, research, accreditations, privacy and terms. We didn't book a call, sign up or contact Ria.
• Research: the 2020 study's PubMed record and the three posters on Ria's research page; figures shown only in poster charts weren't read.
• Ratings: Trustpilot, Apple and Google Play, the same day. A BBB name search found only other businesses.