Teens claim they were used as fake rehab clients

[slimvictor]

Victoria Byers did not drink alcohol. She did not abuse drugs. But when she was a teenager in foster care, several times a month, she would board a van at her group home and go to rehab.

Byers couldn't figure out why she had to take drug tests and sit in group therapy sessions on addiction at So Cal Health Services, a clinic tucked in an office park in Riverside, California.

"And I told them, you know, 'Why should I be here? I have no drug issue,' " said Byers, now a slow-to-smile 22-year-old.

The director of Byers' group home confirmed Byers was clean but said she sent all six girls under her care to the clinic because she didn't have enough staff to separate those with substance abuse problems.

The arrangement was strange. It was also a scam.

So Cal Health Services was ripping off taxpayers, part of a pattern of fraud by rehabilitation clinics that collect government funding to help the poor and addicted, a yearlong investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN has found. The investigation, which included undercover surveillance and stakeouts, uncovered a rehab racket that continues to this day.

Thousands of pages of government records and dozens of interviews with counselors, patients and regulators reveal a widespread scheme to bilk the state's Medicaid system, the nation's largest. Witnesses to the fraud laid out its inner workings in minute detail, some speaking of it publicly for the first time.

In the underbelly of the Drug Medi-Cal program, clinics pad client rolls by diagnosing people like Byers with addictions they don't have. They round up mentally ill residents from board-and-care homes to sit in therapy sessions they can't follow. They lure patients in from the street by handing out cash, cigarettes and snacks. They have patients sign in for days they aren't there.

cont at
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/30/h...two/?sr=google_news&google_editors_picks=true

 

[slimvictor]

CNN/CIR rehab fraud investigation spurs lawmakers into action

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/02/h...our/?sr=google_news&google_editors_picks=true

A California lawmaker has scheduled a hearing to examine disclosures of significant fraud in taxpayer-funded drug rehabilitation by The Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN.

Dr. Richard Pan, chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, wants to know how the problem persisted for so long, even as state health authorities expanded their efforts this week to shut down questionable clinics.

"A lot of people seemed to know what was going on, but for some reason, they didn't seem to be acting on what was going on," said Pan, a Democrat who represents the Sacramento area. "It seemed like it was hiding in plain sight."

A yearlong investigation by CIR and CNN found widespread fraud and poor oversight in the state's alcohol and drug counseling program for the poor, called Drug Medi-Cal. It is part of the nation's largest Medicaid program.

In the wake of that investigation, another California lawmaker has called for an independent audit into the troubled program. Los Angeles County officials also are proposing reforms aimed at tightening clinic oversight.

 

[slimvictor]

Rehab racket: Frauds, felons and fakes

Next to a smoke shop deep in the San Fernando Valley, employees at Able Family Support pull back the metal gates and open the doors to catch an unfettered flow of government money.

The clinic, reimbursed by taxpayers for each client it sees, offers in-person drug and alcohol counseling.

And Able Family is thriving, according to its billing records. In real life, on this hazy Southern California day, business moves at a slower pace.

No more than 30 people trickle into the rehab center until the doors are locked 10 hours later. Unbeknownst to clinic staff, reporters were stationed in parked cars counting the people who came and went on April 4.

The counting resumed a month later when the clinic submitted its bill to Los Angeles County seeking reimbursement -- not for 30 people, but for 179. The government promptly paid it -- $6,400 for clients Able Family reported it saw April 4.

cont, with video, at
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/29/h...one/?sr=google_news&google_editors_picks=true

 

[cj]

Not suprising outpatient group therapy is a highly profitable business venture due to the low overhead. One "counselor" who usually only posseses a bachelors degree can have 10-15 patients at a time. Its a shame since adolescent group therapy carries such a high risk. A kid who comes in for smoking pot is likely to meet kids who do harder drugs. Role theory states that these kids will immitate there more advanced peers leading to riskier behavior. Of coursethe rehabs do all they can to bury studies coming to this conclusion.

 

[23536]

Was it so hard for them to find drug-using teenagers?

 

['medicine cabinet']

This is pretty fucking goofy. Matter of fact there was a law and order where they took metnally ill ppl and did the same stuff and then over charged the gov for services and things they didnt need or really do, just like in these ca rehabs. Sucks that in an industry where some, i wont say the majority bc i dont believe that, call me a cynic lol...but yea some ppl actually want to change lives for the better and help ppl. But it seems like for the few that do, there are way more that were just drug users and got into it bc addicts are easy targets for taxpayer fraud scams and easy sympathy money, esp when they are at risk youths. But like crimson said kids go in smoking pot and meet kids that are on a whole diff level of drug use and those pot smoking kids are the next set of tweakers crack heads or smackk fiends. Its shameful people that take advantage of the disadvantaged...