Boston-Area Substance Abuse Programs Allegedly Paid Kickbacks to Get Patients into Substandard Facilities

Department of Justice – The U.S. Attorney’s Office has sued Bournewood Health Systems and First Psychiatric Planners, claiming they paid kickbacks in the form of free housing to induce patients to choose them over other treatment facilities.

Bournewood Health Systems and First Psychiatric Planners allegedly offered free sober housing to patients seeking treatment while recovering from substance abuse, as an incentive to use the companies’ services instead of competitors’. Kickbacks of this kind would violate both state and federal laws, and render reimbursement claims made to government healthcare programs fraudulent under both state and federal False Claims Acts. The government contends that not only did these organizations inflate their patient counts by doing this, but they also referred patients to homes that they knew to be unsafe or threatening to their patient’s sobriety; there had been complaints of sexual solicitation and harassment, drug overdoses, medication theft, bed bugs, and overcrowding.

Source:

• Department of Justice: TITLE