When will rehab industry promote the good work they do? –
August 17, 2020 – Gerner admitted last year that the company had actively recruited patients with premium insurance plans so it could maximize profits by billing carriers for high-cost, out-of-network reimbursement for treatment.
In some cases, Liberation Way even paid for health plans for clients without coverage, routing the money through sham charities with names like “Hope for Families” to skirt rules barring anyone but family members, religious organizations, or legitimate nonprofits from covering the costs. Patients whose insurance had been bought for them were required to live in sober homes rented and owned by Liberation Way. State grand jurors described them as breeding grounds for relapse, where those allegedly receiving treatment were poorly supervised, and housing staff and employees engaged in sexual relationships with patients.
One in North Wales was known among patients and staff as “the party house,” the grand jury said.
Their true purpose, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain said in a statement Monday, was to ensure that clients living there would show up for frequent treatments, including hundreds of unnecessary urine screening tests ordered by company doctors, who in many cases had never met the patients that they claimed to be treating.
