State's addiction recovery industry rife with fraud and corruption, report finds

By: Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey lawmakers need to clamp down on "widespread fraud and corruption" in teh addiction recovery industry as more than $1 billion is expected to pour in during the next 14 years from opioid settlement funds to help lower record overdose deaths, says a report released Tuesday. [02/06/2024]
..... Owners and operators of several addiction treatment centers were geared unethical practices that were geared toward "making profit and promoting their own interests and less about getting their clients clean and sober," says the 106-page report, titled "The Dirty Business Behind Getting Clean," from the State Commission of Investigation.
..... New Jersey's laws have not kept pace with the misconduct, including new ways of patient brokering - the Illegal practice of paying someone for referring an addict to a specific addiction center - with companies and nonprofit groups receiving payments that may circumvent state law.
..... The commission recommends expanding New Jersey's patient brokering law, singed by Governor Phil Murphy in 2021, to clamp down on more sophisticated practices. It calls for bolstering licensing and inspection standards for treatment centers and enacting new legislation to target deceptive marketing practices and require peer recovery coaches to be licensed.
..... The recommendations would help the industry operate with "integrity, reliability and accountability." commission Chairwoman Tiffany Williams Brewer said in a statement.
..... The report lands as New Jersey is in the grip of the opioid epidemic. The state has followed a national trend, with New Jersey opioid-related deaths in the past decade surging from 1,096 in 2012 to more than 3,000 in recent years, according to Heath Department data.
..... Counselors have said the COVID-1 pandemic exacerbated the problem, with addiction centers across the state reporting a surge in demand for treatment. The state recorded its highest number of overdose deaths in 2021, with 2,144. That number decreased slightly in 2022 to 3,054.
..... State, county and local governments are expected to receive $.14 billion form legal settlements with drug manufactures, drug distributors and pharmacy chains through 2038. The funds are to be used only for "initiatives to save lives, promote addiction prevention and harm reduction, increase access to treatment and recovery services, and otherwise mitigate the harms that the opioid crisis has visited upon our communities," said Attorney General Matt Platkin.
..... A lack of government regulation "has enabled bad actors to exploit systemic weaknesses, often to the detriment of individuals who are struggling with addition," the report says.
..... One of the report's main recommendations is to strengthen New Jersey;s patient law in Florida that makes it illegal not just for individuals to engage in the practice but also health care providers and health facilities.
..... New Jersey's law applies only to individuals, and its penalties are a maximum 18-months prison term and $10,000 find, compared with five years in prison and a $50,000 fine in Florida.

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