Ethics in Treatment

Liberation Way employees plead guilty in Bucks County addiction treatment scheme

Posted on September 4, 2019September 4, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

Liberation Way employees plead guilty in Bucks County addiction treatment scheme
Three employees of a shuttered addiction-treatment program in Bucks County have pleaded guilty to charges in an elaborate, multimillion dollar insurance fraud scheme, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday. Prosecutors filed charges in March against 11 people and nine businesses associated with Liberation Way, a Yardley-based program that operated multiple treatment centers and unlicensed “sober houses” in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Some rural hospitals used for big insurance reimbursements – and profit

Posted on July 25, 2019July 25, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

Some rural hospitals used for big insurance reimbursements – and profit
Some rural hospitals are being used to set up big paydays from insurance providers, raising questions about how insurance claims are reimbursed. Since 2010, 83 struggling rural hospitals have closed, and as many as 700 others are at risk of closing in the next decade.

Substance Abuse Treatment Center Owner Pleads Guilty to $57 Million Money Laundering Conspiracy…

Posted on July 25, 2019July 25, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

Substance Abuse Treatment Center Owner Pleads Guilty to $57 Million Money Laundering Conspiracy in Connection with Hospital Pass-Through Billing Scheme
The owner of a Jacksonville, Florida-area substance abuse treatment center pleaded guilty today for his role in a $57 million money laundering conspiracy associated with a pass-through billing scheme involving laboratory testing services. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S.

We got a nod! – Relapse for Cash: How Patient Brokers and Unscrupulous Rehabs Prey on Addicts Looking for Help

Posted on July 1, 2019July 1, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

Relapse for Cash: How Patient Brokers and Unscrupulous Rehabs Prey on Addicts Looking for Help | The Fix
If you think patient brokering, also known as “body brokering,” is just about “professionals” getting kickbacks for referring a client to a certain rehab, you are wrong. It’s much more complicated and sinister than that.

The Predatory Malibu Rehab Guru who Ripped off Obamacare

Posted on May 30, 2019May 30, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

The Predatory Malibu Rehab Guru Who Ripped Off Obamacare
He’s a convicted sexual predator who targeted women in his care. Soon he’ll be tried for an alleged $176 million insurance fraud. He’s an exceptionally bad person, but as a businessman he was fairly typical of rehab operators in America’s $42 billion-a-year treatment industry. His name is Christopher Bathum.

A deadly addiction recovery cycle

Posted on May 1, 2019May 1, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

A disturbing new phase of the opioid crisis: How rehab recruiters are luring recovering addicts into a deadly cycle
The offer was too good to resist: Go to rehab for a week, get $1,000 in cash. It was early 2017, and Brianne, a 20-year-old from a woody Atlanta suburb, had come to South Florida to leave her heroin addiction behind.

NAATP Releases Treatment Provider Guidebook

Posted on April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

NAATP Releases Treatment Provider Guidebook
The National Association is pleased to release the NAATP Addiction Treatment Provider Quality Assurance Guidebook: A Guide to the Core Competencies for the Delivery of Addiction Treatment Services (The Guidebook). The Guidebook identifies, describes, and provides implementation strategy for the core competencies of addiction treatment program operation, thereby empowering addiction treatment providers with clear direction for the proficient and ethical delivery of addiction treatment services.

First person found guilty of patient brokering sentenced to 3 years

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

First person found guilty of patient brokering sentenced to 3 years
Nicholas Cirio, the first person to be convicted by a jury for patient brokering in Palm Beach County, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo. WEST PALM BEACH – The first person to go to trial and be convicted by a jury of patient brokering in Palm Beach County was sentenced to nearly three years in prison Monday morning.

Bucks drug rehab fraud made millions off patients’ relapses, Pa. attorney general charges

Posted on March 25, 2019March 25, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

Bucks drug rehab fraud made millions off patients’ relapses, Pa. attorney general charges
The cofounder of a Bucks County drug treatment company and 10 others have been charged in a wide-ranging fraud scheme that, state officials say, trapped patients suffering from drug and alcohol addiction in a cycle of ineffective treatments and near-inevitable relapse – all as the company made tens of millions of dollars off insurance reimbursements and kickbacks.

“Mom, When They Look at Me, They See Dollar Signs”

Posted on February 27, 2019February 27, 2019 by Gregory Gooden

A disturbing new phase of the opioid crisis: How rehab recruiters are luring recovering addicts into a deadly cycle
The offer was too good to resist: Go to rehab for a week, get $1,000 in cash. It was early 2017, and Brianne, a 20-year-old from a woody Atlanta suburb, had come to South Florida to leave her heroin addiction behind.