Treatment Center Billed Taxpayers for 203 Hrs. of Work by One Employee in Single Day

VIDEO – LIKE SO MANY OTHERS –

May 1, 2024 – They accuse the company of improperly billing taxpayers for phone calls with clients, falsely billing group activities as if they were a series of individual interactions, and overstating the times spent on van rides to and from recovery treatment.

“I’ve spent many sleepless nights,” Lea Jondal explained.

What’s been keeping Jondal up is a story she’s now driven to tell.

“I hate to be labeled as the whistleblower,” she told KARE 11, “but it had to happen.”

Jondal is one of the former workers and clients who accuse Evergreen Recovery, a St. Paul addiction treatment center, of overbilling. Records show Evergreen’s practices have allowed them to rake in millions of dollars a year for peer services since they first started billing in September of 2021 – more than twice as much as any other licensed addiction recovery program in the state during the same period.

Evergreen officials denied they’ve deliberately done anything improper.

Although Evergreen’s attorney sent two “Cease & Desist” letters alleging unethical conduct by KARE 11’s reporters such as digging through the facility’s trash. KARE 11 denied any improper conduct and continued reporting.