What are the Legal Protections for an Employee Seeking Addiction Treatment?

employee seeking addiction treatment

employee seeking addiction treatmentBy: Jackie Bain

Employers are approaching us in increasing numbers regarding their obligations toward employees battling substance abuse. Two federal laws primarily govern the space, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Note that state laws may be more restrictive, so we encourage our clients to reach out to local attorneys to determine if additional legal protections are available to employees in their state.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers businesses with 15 or more employees to protects workers from discrimination based on a qualifying disability or a perceived disability, which is defined to include alcoholism and illegal drug use. However, to be eligible, the ADA protects only workers who either (i) have successfully been rehabilitated and are no longer using illegal drugs or misusing alcohol; or (ii) are currently participating in a rehabilitation program and are no longer using illegal drugs or misusing alcohol. Importantly, the ADA does not protect any employee who is presently battling alcoholism and illegal drug use and is not participating in a treatment program. An employee in the throes of substance abuse who is not actively seeking treatment is not protected by the ADA.Continue reading

EKRA Affects Marketing Relationships with Labs and Addiction Treatment Businesses

By: Jeff Cohen

For those following the federal legislative developments on the issue of compensating marketing people who market the services of labs and addiction treatment facilities there is a new update to take note of. Congress passed on October 24, 2018 the “Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act.”  Yes, that’s a real name!  Part of the law is the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (“EKRA”).

The core aspect of EKRA has to do with how to properly compensate marketing personnel who market the services of labs, addiction treatment facilities and recovery homes.   For those of you already familiar with existing federal law pertaining to compensation arrangements (e.g. the bona fide employee exception (the “BFE”) and the personal services arrangement and management contract safe harbor (the “PSA”)), the EKRA provisions will look familiar!  Key aspects of this law (which has to be read together with similar existing laws) include—Continue reading

Big Rule Changes Proposed for DCF Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Centers

substance abuse licensingBy: Jacqueline Bain

On December 29, 2017, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) submitted comments for proposed changed to rule 65D-30, governing licensed substance abuse service providers. The proposed rule includes significant changes as compared to old 65D-30, and should be reviewed as soon as possible by all DCF-licensed substance abuse service providers.  Comments must be received by DCF on or before January 19, 2018, and can be submitted via the form at the bottom of THIS LINK .The proposed changes are substantial, and we strongly recommend someone in each licensed service provider reviews them as soon as possible in order to ensure timely compliance.

This article will focus on changes in the licensing component of DCF’s rules.Continue reading

Is Your Substance Abuse Marketing Service Licensed? Check Here

healthcare fraud

addiction marketingBefore doing business in Florida, an entity providing substance abuse marketing services must be licensed by Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection. This includes includes either telephone solicitation from a location in Florida or solicitation from other states or nations for substance abuse and addiction treatment centers located in Florida.

As of November 27, 2017, only the following entities are licensed by the State of Florida to provide marketing services to substance abuse and addiction treatment centers:

  • A Way and a Means, LLC (Delray Beach, Florida)
  • Addiction International Holdings, LLC d/b/a The Addiction Advisor d/b/a The Recovery Miracle (Boca Raton, Florida)
  • Advanced Recovery Systems, LLC (Winter Park, Florida)
  • Bandwidth Interactive Company d/b/a Local Management (Boca Raton, Florida)
  • Delphi Behavioral Health Group, LLC (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
  • Freedom From Addiction, LLC (Miami Beach, Florida)
  • Infoworx Direct, LLC d/b/a Addiction Hope and Help Line (Boca Raton, Florida)
  • Invigorate Solutions, LLC d/b/a Local Management (Boca Raton, Florida)
  • Meridian Treatment Solutions, LLC (Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida)
  • NPA Consulting Group, LLC (Pompano Beach, Florida)
  • Palm Partners, LLC (Palm Springs, Florida)
  • Parent Team, LLC (Santa Rosa, California)
  • Pryme Time Media, LLC (Sunrise, Florida)
  • R360, LLC (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
  • Redwood Recovery Solutions, LLC d/b/a com (Riviera Beach, Florida)
  • Ring2Media, LLC (Westport, Connecticut)
  • Rybchinskiy Inc. (Boynton Beach, Florida)
  • Sober Network, Inc. (Delray Beach, Florida)
  • The Addiction Network, LLC (North Miami, Florida)
  • True Choice Health Group Limited Liability Company (Pompano Beach, Florida)
  • United Addiction Specialists, LLC (Hollywood, Florida)
  • USR Holdings, LLC (Coconut Creek, Florida)

It is a third degree felony for: any person to work for an entity that does not have a current and valid license; or for any entity to invite telephone calls or other communications with a substance abuse marketer who is soliciting clients without a current and valid substance abuse marketing license; or for any person or entity to solicit without a license; or for any person who otherwise violates the law requiring licensure either directly or indirectly. Any person who is convicted of a second or subsequent violation commits a felony of the second degree.

Addiction Treatment Law Changes Management Relationships

healthcare regulatory complianceBy: Jeff Cohen

Passage of the new and comprehensive Florida addiction treatment industry legislation (CS/CS/HB 807) will send addiction treatment facility management relationships back to the drawing board.  Prior to the new law, some DCF licensed facilities were managed by management companies, some of which were owned by people who either did not qualify to be on the DCF license or who did not want to be visible on the license.

The new addiction treatment law requires all such arrangements to be reconsidered.  Here’s why:  There are several sections in the new law where management is the subject of intensive focus.   Newly created 397.410 requires DCF to establish minimum licensure requirements for each service component limited in part to the number and qualifications of all personnel, including management.  Newly created 397.415(1)(d)1 authorizes DCF to deny, suspend or revoke licensure of any license based on a “false representation of a material fact in the licensure application or omission of any material fact from the application.”  Finally, 397.415 creates an entire category of potentially punishing fines and, in some cases, exposure to criminal prosecution.

The new law will create heavy regulatory suspicion for any non-transparent management relationship, even a third party relationship.  Worse, it’s conceivable that any suspicious or arguably noncompliant relationship could form the basis for recoupment by insurers.  When the state Health Care Clinic Law was created some years ago, payers took advantage of situations where facilities that required a license but didn’t have one.  Under a threat of insurance fraud (e.g. an unlicensed healthcare facility receiving compensation for services), some payers were able to extract huge recoupments.

Any DCF licensed facility with a third party management relationship needs to reconsider it in light of the new addiction treatment law.  Moreover, all interested parties should pay close attention to (and monitor and participate in) the new law’s rulemaking process which began at the end of June.

CLICK HERE for: SUBSTANCE ABUSE MARKETING SERVICE PROVIDER LICENSE APPLICATION

Addiction Treatment Law Evolution: EMTALA Needs Updates for Opioid Crisis

By: Karina Gonzalez

With the opioid epidemic in South Florida at crisis levels, there is an increasing demand on local hospital emergency departments for screening and evaluations of drug overdoses, considered a medical emergency. Addiction treatment law evolves with EMTALA updates.   Many patients receiving substance abuse treatment in this community are coming from out-of-state.  Many are young, under 35 years and a majority receive outpatient services.  Overdoses are occurring more frequently as patients deliberately misuse opioid prescriptions such as Fentanyl or an illicit drugs such as heroin.  If the patient possesses and or uses an illicit drug while in treatment, the policy in many facilities is to terminate treatment and discharge the patient. But if the patient has overdosed, the facility will place a call to 911 and that patient will end up with a visit to a local emergency department.   A discharged patient will often continue using and end up in the emergency department, taken there by paramedics or some other individual.

Evolution of EMTALA

Local emergency departments now play a pivotal role in the next steps that an overdosed patient may take.   Is the patient receiving their EMTALA rights (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act), a federal law requiring anyone coming to a hospital emergency department to be screened and examined?  If an emergency medical condition exists, treatment is provided to relieve or eliminate the emergency medical condition within the service capability of the hospital, a difficult task with substance abuse. Continue reading

Addiction Treatment Industry Becomes Familiar with Immunity

I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer,

to treat everything as if it were a nail

–Abraham Maslow, “Toward a Psychology of Being”

By: Jeff Cohen & Randy Goldberg

The dominant forces of change in the addiction treatment industry are law enforcement and insurance companies.  The focus and impact of insurers is currently focused on the argument that what treatment providers do isn’t medically necessary.  This rationale is undeniably misguided  and is the biggest threat to the survival of many health care providers, including those at the forefront of adapting to the demands by implementing meaningful legal regulatory compliance.  This focus of this article is a parallel intervening factor in the addiction treatment industry:  that of law enforcement, most notably in Palm Beach County, Florida.  Consequently, providers in the addiction treatment space and their employees are becoming increasingly familiar with the concept of immunity as they are deal with law enforcement on a routine basis.

We assume there are bad-actors in the addiction treatment space.  There are bad-actors in every industry and profession.  No one can appreciate that more than this article’s co-author, Randy Goldberg.  He is a retired Florida law enforcement professional, who spent a significant portion of his career investigating law enforcement officers for alleged criminal misconduct, having been deeply involved in the arrest and successful prosecution of law enforcement officers who abused their authority and strayed to the dark-side of the law. Continue reading

Florida Lawmakers on the Attack with Addiction Treatment Law

By: Jacqueline Bain

New updates in addiction treatment law. On February 8, 2017, Florida Senator Jeff Clemens (Dem.) filed a bill entitled “Marketing Practices for Substance Abuse Services” (SB 0788). A sister bill was filed in Florida’s House of Representatives by Bill Hager (Rep.) on February 13, 2017 (HB 807).

In the most general sense, the addiction treatment law bills propose the following:

  • creation of a marketing fraud statute specific to substance abuse treatment centers;
  • mandating that all recovery residences, even those owned by treatment centers, receive FARR certification prior to suggesting that patients reside there;
  • requiring lead generators, call centers and other web based marketing providers to make certain disclosures to consumers;
  • requiring lead generators, call centers and other web based marketing providers to be licensed by the State of Florida Bureau of Professional Regulations;
  • allowing the State Attorney’s office to prosecute patient brokering;
  • institutes and increases fines for convictions of patient brokering; and
  • expanding the definition criminal definition of “racketeering” to include patient brokering.

The bills also expand investigation and prosecution ability of the State and reduces substance abuse patient privacy in criminal investigations. If passed, the bill would grant law enforcement access to substance abuse patient records in criminal investigations. It also permits the State Department of Legal Affairs to investigate and prosecute patient brokering allegations.

The full text of each bill is also available here and here.Continue reading