ANYTHING FOR A BUCK –

“That business has been built on deception, a New York Times investigation found.”

Dec. 7, 2024 – The  the country’s largest for-profit chain of 165 methadone clinics has generated more than $1.3 billion in revenue since 2022. Clinic directors can get bonuses when their patient enrollment goes up, an incentive that has led Acadia to treat people who do not have opioid addictions but are dependent on other drugs.  Her boss excoriated her after she turned away a patient who tested negative for opioids and admitted to using only methamphetamine. The boss demanded to know why she had let a potential patient walk.

Methadone is a narcotic, and the clinics are heavily regulated by federal and state governments. In addition to handing out methadone, the clinics are required to provide counseling and other services, like drug testing.

But Acadia often fails to provide that counseling, according to five dozen current and former employees in 22 of the 33 states where the company has clinics. Instead, employees at times falsify the medical records that Acadia uses to bill insurers, according to the employees and internal emails.

CONTINUE@NYTimes