CCHR Calls for Investigation into Psychiatric Hospitals that Rake in Millions

Receiving numerous reports of alleged abuse or fraud committed within mental health facilities, including for-profit psychiatric and behavioral facilities in Florida, CCHR is calling for an investigation and asking whistleblowers to step forward.

Clearwater, United States – July 4, 2017 /PressCable/ —

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) of Florida, a non-profit mental health watchdog that exposes human rights violations and is dedicated to the protection of children, is calling for an investigation into for-profit psychiatric hospitals that are raking in millions while under investigation for fraud.

As a mental health watchdog organization, CCHR receives numerous reports, through its investigations and otherwise, of alleged abuse or fraud committed within mental health facilities, including for-profit psychiatric and behavioral facilities serving minors resulting in hundreds of complaints being filed with state agencies. Some of the reports received are on for-profit psychiatric facilities that have been under fraud investigation for years but yet are still doing business and raking in millions of dollars.

One example is the psychiatric and mental health facilities owned by Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS). UHS runs the largest network of private for-profit psychiatric hospitals in the United States – They operate 221 behavioral care facilities located throughout 38 states. This equates to providing 20% of all inpatient behavioral health services in the country.

Currently 26 of UHS’s behavioral-psychiatric facilities are under federal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil and Criminal Divisions and Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for alleged fraudulent billing practices under Medicare and Medicaid. In March 2015, the DOJ also expanded its criminal investigation to include the company’s headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania[1] and then in May of 2017 the scope of the investigation was widened to include the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the FBI.[2]

Five of the facilities under investigation are in Florida and all are still open and operating with one exception. The facilities are:

– Central Florida Behavioral Hospital

– River Point Behavioral Health

– University Behavioral Center

– Wekiva Springs

– National Deaf Academy (closed)

Central Florida Behavioral Hospital in Orlando is an example of a UHS facility still doing business as usual despite investigations and continuous reports of violations.

Here is a timeline of some of their issues:

– Local attorney Mac McLeod wins settlement of more than $10 million in Orange County wrongful death case. Date: April 23, 2016

– Feds widen fraud probe of Universal Health Services to include headquarters. Date: April 1, 2015

– Questions surround man’s death while in care of Central Florida Behavioral Hospital. Date: October 9, 2014

– Patient with known nut allergy given peanut butter in suicide attempt. Date: August 27, 2014

– Patient Not Given Prescribed Medications. Date: July 17, 2013

– Patient Escape Through Entrance Door. Date: December 7, 2012

– Young Patients Shuffled Between Units Because Census Exceeded Capacity. Date: December 14, 2011

– Informed Consent for Meds not Obtained for Four Patients. Date: February 12, 2009

– Patient Vitals Not Documented. Date: January 15, 2009 [3]

Meanwhile the fiscal report for Central Florida Behavioral Hospital looked like this in 2015:

They showed total assets of $39,854,335.58 and while their General Revenue income for the year was only $7,121.75 their Contract Income from Medicaid, The Department of Children and Families and the Juvenile Welfare Board was $80,429,807.50 [4]

Yet despite the complaints about UHS’s behavioral/psychiatric facilities and Federal investigations into them, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) approved UHS to open a new facility in Stuart, Florida. Coral Shores Behavioral Health is an 80-bed mental health facility currently under construction and is scheduled to begin accepting the first patients on June 1, 2017. [5]

As a result, CCHR is not only calling for an investigation but is asking for anyone employed in the mental health profession, families of people who have suffered abuse in a psychiatric facility or any staff or former staff of such facilities with knowledge of healthcare fraud or psychiatric abuse to please contact CCHR with full particulars and any documentary evidence at 727-442-8820 or online at www.cchrflorida.org.

About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’”

[1] healthcarefinancenews.com/news/feds-widen-fraud-probe-universal-health-services-include-headquarters

[2] fiercehealthcare.com/healthcare/report-scope-uhs-investigations-widens-to-include-multiple-federal-agencies

[3] uhsbehindcloseddoors.org/item/central-floridaflorida-behavioral-hospital/

[4] cfbhn.org/Documents/BOD/02262016%20BOD%20Packet.pdf

[5] tcpalm.com/story/specialty-publications/progress-and-innovation/2017/02/20/profile-mental-health-facility-opening-martin-summer/97091774/

Contact Info:
Name: Diane Stein
Email: publicaffairs@cchrflorida.org
Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida
Address: 109 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755, United States
Phone: +1-727-442-8820

For more information, please visit http://www.cchrflorida.org/

Source: PressCable

Release ID: 214107