“Medically supervised!” boast so many addiction treatment centers — even though they’re explicitly “non-medical.”
Matthew Maniace died in a Lake Arrowhead detox that said it was “clinically supervised” and offered “around-the-clock medical supervision.” So did Terri Darling and James Dugas. In a paranoid delirium, Henry Richard Lehr bolted from a Newport Beach detox that provided “incidental medical services” and broke into a nearby home, where he was shot and killed by the terrified resident inside.
It’s easy to mistake mental health and addiction treatment centers for actual medical facilities in California. But they are not staffed 24/7 by doctors (and are not allowed to be). They’re typically situated in tract houses in residential neighborhoods, and the most stringent medical requirement may be the full-time presence of someone who knows CPR.
Enter Senate Bill 1665 by Sen. Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel — an attempt to untangle the pretzel logic of non-medical facilities crowing about their medical services, or exaggerating staffers’ credentials, or promising prescription-drug-level services when no one on staff is licensed to prescribe drugs. It was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on on Monday, Aug. 22.
No bull
It refines Brandon’s Law, the Bates bill signed by Newsom last year, which prohibits addiction treatment and mental health providers from misrepresenting or making blatantly false claims about the services they offer or where they’re located. That was a long-fought victory for Bates and Nelson’s family, and its meaning seemed crystal clear.
But some operators have tried to skirt it using sophistry, Bates said.
Thus the new law, which expressly forbids drug or alcohol programs from making false or misleading statements about medical treatments or services offered.
“We’re thrilled we got that signed by the governor,” Bates said. But perhaps not so thrilled that every burp and gurgle of what seems obvious and ethical must be explicitly spelled out.
Bates’ intent has always been clear and simple: She doesn’t want people in crisis over addiction and mental health issues to be bamboozled. She doesn’t want them to be misled about what kind of help they’ll be getting. She doesn’t want operators to exaggerate or lie to snag a client. It can be a matter of life and death.
Phantom care
Brandon Nelson had suffered a debilitating psychotic break and was promised the finest care at now-defunct Sovereign Health: He’d be closely monitored by a licensed therapist, and a psychiatrist, and would get group and other forms of therapy, his parents were told.
But Nelson wound up in an unlicensed “sober living home mental health facility” run by Sovereign, didn’t get the hospital-prescribed drugs he needed on time, was left unattended and used his sweatpants to hang himself from the sprinkler system. He was 26 when he died in 2018.
This reporter, who has spent the past five years chronicling the tragic flaws in California’s private-pay, insurance-money-fueled, addiction treatment system, naively thought that Brandon’s Law would stop non-medical facilities from claiming to provide medical supervision. But alas.
There are hundreds of officially non-medical addiction treatment and mental health facilities licensed to provide “incidental medical services” by the California Department of Health Care Services. They are not allowed to provide primary medical care, but can obtain medical histories, monitor patients’ health to determine if emergency care is needed, oversee patients’ self-administered medications.
These IMS facilities typically have a contractual relationship with a doctor, who will look over patient paperwork within 72 hours of admission.
Of course, the first days of detox are the most dangerous. Lehr and Maniace and Darling were dead before 72 hours had passed.
Still, DHCS said that these non-medical facilities did not run afoul of Brandon’s Law by claiming they offer medical supervision.
No hyperbole
The new law will provide penalties — such as loss of license — to dissuade operators from hyperbole, like claiming the staff marriage and family therapist is a certified addiction counselor and the like.
Enforcement action, as always, must begin with a complaint to DHCS (details on how to file complaints here).
The interpretation and enforcement will, of course, fall to the DHCS folks themselves. We asked if the new law will stop rehabs with IMS designations (and without!) from claiming they’re medically supervised.
State officials couldn’t tell us yay or nay by deadline. But Bates said that that’s clearly her intent. If more legislation is required, she’ll do what she can to make that happen — even as term limits mean her time in the state Senate will come to a close this year.
“Families should be assured their loved ones are properly cared for as they begin their journey to recovery,” Bates said in a statement. “Now that SB 1165 is law, I am hopeful more people will feel confident enough to enter treatment and overcome their addiction.”
Source: Orange County Register
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