If you’re to ask Michael Botticelli, there is hope for people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. The drug czar during the Obama administration wants people to believe that these people can still get well.
“One of the things that is really important to show is that people can and do recover,” he said. “When they get access to quality care, they do get better.”
Unfortunately not all drug treatment programs are effective. In fact, there were several treatment centers that billed insurance companies without helping addicts recover. The unscrupulous practice involved millions of dollars billed for counseling and testing.
So how can families, friends, and other concerned parties distinguish the bad from the good? Experts say these are the signs to watch out for:
In the article it says,
Watch Out For:
- Generic websites or advertisements that don’t clearly identify what treatment programs the site or advertiser represents. They may just be collecting phone numbers and email addresses for patient “brokers,” who will then try to connect you with whatever treatment center is paying them.
- Whether the person you’re speaking to receives referral fees from the treatment center. “Brokers” are paid by the head to get you or your loved one into a particular treatment center, whether or not it’s the right one for you.
- Offers to pay for travel. If someone is offering to cover travel to Florida or another location, call the treatment facility or your insurance company to confirm that the person is an employee. In certain states, paying for travel may also be considered an illegal inducement.
- Offers to pay for insurance coverage or to waive co-pays or deductibles. See above.
- Offers of free rent from “sober homes” — the offsite homes where addiction patients are often housed — in exchange for attending a particular drug treatment program.
- Daily or near-daily lab tests that cost thousands of dollars.
- A treatment center that doesn’t ask for in-depth information about the patient or doesn’t ask for access to any therapists or counselors previously used by the patient. Without this information, the center won’t be able to assess whether the patient is a good fit.
- Unsolicited referrals from marketers or hotlines to treatment centers out of state. Treatment centers that aren’t in your state may be considered out of network by your insurance company, meaning the centers will be able to bill the insurers more.
Here’s the entire article.