"Oh, there's more than a bit of Sisyphus rolling the rock uphill here. Laurie Girand has been pushing to reform addiction recovery for nearly a decade. Combing police logs. Meeting with lawmakers. Briefing committee staffers. Conjuring PowerPoints to help the Powers-That-Be understand the deadly system they control, and how cruel profiteers abuse it, and what lawmakers might do to improve care and save lives. Why the hell is it so hard?"
"Over the past decade, there have been successes, to be sure, on the Rehab Riviera Reform front. Today, insurance-money-fueled, private-pay, residential addiction treatment centers often just tract houses in residential neighborhoods with nary a doctor in sight must adhere to standards set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine or something like them (not just the 12 steps, yoga and horse petting that was so prevalent before)."
Efforts to reform addiction treatment over the past decade have produced limited changes. Residential centers accepting insurance now face some standards, but outpatient programs where most care occurs remain largely unlicensed and less regulated. Patient brokering persists: operators recruit addicts, enroll them in California insurance, provide housing and sometimes money or drugs, then bill insurers exorbitantly per patient. California penalties for brokering are weak compared with federal and Florida laws that impose heavy fines and prison. Public treatment programs funded by Medicare/Medicaid face stricter oversight and quality requirements than many private programs, reversing typical expectations.
Read at www.ocregister.com
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