Ex-PBSO deputy faces more patient brokering charges
Robert “Bobby” Simeone faces 25 counts of patient brokering for his ties to an unlicensed sober home on a Loxahatchee Groves horse farm. WEST PALM BEACH – A former Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy who in 2016 ran for a seat in Florida’s House is facing more patient brokering charges for his treatment center’s allegedly illegal business dealings, West Palm Beach police records show.
Blog
Submitting fake insurance claims – It doesn’t pay
Sober-home operator submitted fake insurance claims, authorities say
James Durkin had operated two businesses in Boynton Beach.
Cracking down on abuses
County passes registry for some drug rehab centers to crack down on abuses
In what could be a first in California, licensed addiction treatment providers will be required to register annually with the Orange County Health Care Agency – and disclose webs of related businesses, such as urine- and blood-testing labs, pharmacies, real-estate-holding companies that manage sober living homes and the like.
A Federal answer to body brokering?
The Health 202: How the opioids bill could halt exploitation of addicted Americans
Much of the 660-page opioids package President Donald Trump could sign this week aims at expanding access to treatment and limiting opportunities for people to become addicted in the first place. But a five-page provision near its end seeks to protect drug-addicted Americans from a strange and particularly egregious kind of exploitation.
New Addiction Treatment Related Laws enacted in California!
New rehab laws may revamp addiction treatment in California
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a raft of bills into law Wednesday that will begin imposing order on the Wild Wild West of California’s addiction treatment system. Most take small steps in what reformers say is the right direction – toward stronger regulation.
11 charged in multimillion-dollar insurance fraud case involving surgeries on recovering addicts
11 charged in multimillion-dollar insurance fraud case involving surgeries on recovering addicts
The owner and an employee of a Fountain Valley-based treatment facility, along with five doctors and four “body brokers,” are charged in what authorities say was a scheme to fraudulently bill insurance companies for experimental, unnecessary and potentially harmful surgeries on recovering addicts.
Treatment CEO’s ask for increased regulation.
In a Hearing About Addiction Treatment Companies’ Sketchy Advertising Practices, CEOs Ask for More Regulation
At a hearing this week investigating the addiction treatment industry’s sketchy marketing practices, various industry representatives said they agreed that their peers need more regulation-but that their own business practices were kosher. “We support the committee’s efforts to clean up the practices that are harming us all,” said Marvin Ventrell, executive director of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.
Recruiters pay vulnerable addicts to try experimental treatment to kick heroin
Recruiters pay vulnerable addicts to try experimental treatment to kick heroin
There are believed to be more than 600,000 opioid addicts in the U.S. A scheme that preys on many involves Naltrexone, a drug that curbs cravings. The FDA approved it in some forms, but not as a surgical implant.
The Ethics of Implant Therapy
Body Brokering in Addiction Part 2: Implant Therapy
The existence of body brokering in addiction is an old story in the treatment world especially in the Los Angeles/Orange County, CA area, also known
ASAM Public Policy Statement on Ethical Promotion and Patient Recruitment by Addiction Treatment Programs
Public Policy Statement on Ethical Promotion and Patient Recruitment by Addiction Treatment Programs
Full Policy Statement Background As addiction treatment has evolved, different models of treatment have been created. The evolution of treatment models has not guaranteed access to evidence-based care. Insurance coverage has expanded, and more people can now find treatment in many different forms and settings.
