Florida Sober Homes Have No Appeal Rights in the DCF/FARR Certification Process

FARR Certification DCF Recovery Residence Appeal Denial

FARR Certification DCF Recovery Residence Appeal DenialBy: Karina Gonzalez

Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is vested with authority over substance abuse services and is responsible to approve at least one credentialing entity to develop and administer a voluntary certification program for recovery residences also referred to as sober homes.  DCF approved FARR (Florida Association of Recovery Residences) as the provider for the voluntary certification program, and it is the only certifying entity, it is the only game in town for sober homes.  The issue at hand now is not whether certification is good or necessary for the sober living industry, rather, the issue is that sober homes have no due process giving them an entry point into the system to challenge DCF or FARR when their certification has been denied, revoked or suspended or some other sanction has been imposed!

While sober home certification is referred to as “voluntary” there is absolutely nothing voluntary about it.  A sober home will not be able to keep its business running without FARR certification. This is because substance abuse providers cannot refer any of their clients to a sober home that is not FARR certified and cannot accept a referral from an uncertified sober home. This prohibition on referrals to and from non-FARR certified sober homes also makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for anyone who violates the prohibition. In addition, there is an administrative fine of $1000 per occurrence in the law should anyone violate the referral prohibition.  Continue reading

State Patient Brokering Act Cases to Throw out Legal Advice as Defense

palm beach county task forceBy: Jeff Cohen

There are two criminal cases pending in Palm Beach County that threaten to put a bullet in the heart of healthcare professionals and businesses and also the law practices that advise them.  Both State v. Simeone and State v. Kigar have a motion from the State pending before them to block any testimony that the defendants received legal advice concerning a contract entered into by an addiction treatment facility and a sober home.  The State alleges that the contract violates the state Patient Brokering Act (PBA) because it was essentially a ruse whereby the addiction treatment facility was just paying for the sober home to refer patients.  Now the State wants to make sure that the entire issue of the defendants being advised by counsel never sees the light of day.

How is this possible?  How can it be that a client can seek legal counsel, get advise (and presumably follow it), and then be blocked from presenting that evidence?  The State argues that the PBA has no wording that requires them to prove intent.  And if intent isn’t an element to be proven, the argument goes, then evidence of the client intending not to violate the law by getting advice beforehand is inadmissible!  Continue reading

Florida Recovery Communities Face Tougher Zoning Regulations

zoning florida law

zoning florida lawBy: Matt Fischer

Municipalities throughout the nation continue to use zoning to exclude community residences from residential districts despite the presence of numerous court decisions that recognize community residences for people with disabilities as a residential use.  Over the past year multiple Florida cities have imposed tougher regulations on community residences for people with disabilities.  These communities include group homes, sober living homes, recovery communities, and assisted living facilities that emulate a biological family.  In creating these regulations, cities cite to the protection of individuals from the actions of unscrupulous operators and also the need to avoid a concentration of community residences in one area that have shown to undermine the goals of the residents.  Thus, if you are an operator in one of these cities, you may be subject to heightened scrutiny and additional documentation requirements ranging from simple registration to submitting an application for a conditional use permit requiring an appearance before a planning and zoning board.Continue reading

FARR Certification Needs Clarification from DCF

FARR certification

FARR certificationState licensed addiction treatment facilities with licenses that include community housing are confused about whether they have to also be certified by the Florida Association of Recovery Residences (FARR) by July 1, 2018.  Attorney Karina Gonzalez  has filed a petition with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to clarify the issue.  A fairly recent state law (397.4873, Fla. Stat.) requires addiction treatment service providers in Florida to refer clients only to recovery residences certified by FARR.

FARR is a private, non-governmental entity approved by DCF to develop and administer a voluntary certification program for recovery residences.  FARR has taken the position that it has also been approved to develop and administer a voluntary certification program for DCF-licensed community housing providers.  “We think,” attorney Gonzalez said, “they’ve got it wrong.  It makes no sense to stack the FARR certification requirement on top of existing state licensure.”

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

Telehealth Law Florida: Delivery System for Substance Abuse Services

telemedicine lawBy: Karina Gonzalez

Telehealth law Florida is constantly evolving The latest example is found with Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) recent proposed rule change which now includes a definition of Telehealth as a delivery system in substance abuse.  Telehealth can be used in treatment or prevention services through electronic communications from one site to another.  However, it does not include delivery of services using only the audio on a telephone, or e-mails, text messages, fax transmissions, US mail or other parcel service. Proposed Rule 65D-30.0031 (83) Definitions.

Telehealth services can be used in intensive outpatient, day or night treatment, day or night treatment with community housing, outpatient, interventions, aftercare, and prevention.   If a substance abuse provider plans on including telehealth services it must submit to DCF detailed procedures outlining which services it intends to provide. The provider will be responsible for the quality of the equipment and technology used in the telehealth service. Proposed Rule 65D-30.004 (20) Common Licensing Standards.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 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

Healthcare Business Operations: Non-Profit Regulations for the Rehab Industry

By: Shobha Lizaso

There has been a growing trend in the substance abuse rehabilitation industry to provide services through a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Unfortunately, there is also a growing trend relating to IRS audits of non-profits. An audit by the IRS can yield many negative outcomes, including the revocation of a treatment center’s tax exempt status and fines imposed on the organization and/or its Directors when the non-profit fails to operate within the rules applicable to 501(c)3 non-profit organizations.

A non-profit may be able to fly under the IRS’s radar for a few years, but as the years pass, the chances that non-profit non-compliance will be caught by the IRS grows exponentially.  To protect your non-profit, please follow some of these basic rules:Continue reading