Families accuse Colorado mental health facility of holding patients for insurance money

Families accuse Colorado mental health facility of holding patients for insurance money

and tonight an exclusive context of an investigation serious questions about a mental health facility in Northern Colorado chief investigative reporter Tony Kowalewski is breaking the story tonight so investigators are from the state are now looking into all this and a lot of reaction already coming in on this and to answer your question yes our digging has sparked the state to look into concerns raised by two families their loved ones needed help now they’re asking state investigators to take action he was falsely held for insurance money he’s questioning what happened to his son inside this building your father a lot needed help yes did he get help not from them not the first time and not the second time and she questions what happened to her father-in-law behind these closed doors all they did was add to his frustrations strong accusations from two highly passionate family members their loved ones facing crisis like all of us they expected one thing high quality care from Clearview behavioral health in Johnstown why do you think that they wanted to keep your son it’s a for-profit Hospital dad always started pinging insurance trying to see how much they could get paid Mike’s teenage son was sent to Clear View after friends raised concerns about his mental health there for the four senators they were gonna keep me there longer I knew there was a problem so I was gonna record any further conversation as best I could so Trevor’s dad hit the record button on his cell phone a conversation he says shows the facility trying to keep his son beyond the 72-hour hold that doctors authorized looks like it’ll expire at five o’clock tonight so I can come get him at five nope whether the doctor is ready to discharge him or not and I not caught on he probably would still be there the facility needs to be held accountable accountable for what Brittany says was a serious failure at Clearview to help her father-in-law first time I I was suicidal as thing about taking all my scripts and cashing out Britney’s father-in-law was sent to Clear View on two different occasions Larry was dealing with serious depression he needed help who paid for your treatment at Clearview Medicare taxpayers yes what should taxpayers know about this facility doctor paying for a facility that ain’t ain’t providing the help that they say they’re providing you got online and you found reviews mm-hmm what are those reviews say a lot of reviews about what a horrible place it was not to send your loved ones there in fact several reviews posted on Google show many others concerned and complaining about the care provided at Clearview they keep you longer than they need to they’ll hold you against your will that the facility doesn’t care about the health just about the money Clearview responded to each review generally saying their goal is to provide the highest quality behavioral health care to patients and families they they maybe do a great job of keeping people there longer than they need to be there of collecting the insurance money and contact 7 is talked with a current and a former employee both declined to go on camera but both raised significant concerns about what they called inadequate patient care short staffing issues contributing to dangerous working conditions and they both encourage state and federal investigators to look into possible insurance fraud we placed multiple calls and left messages for managers and top administrators at Clearview after they were not returned we visited the Johnstown facility hi Toni Kowalewski with contact 7 investigates is the executive director available no we waited for several minutes hoping to get answers for the many questions raised by Mike Trevor Britney Larry and current and former employees how are you Tony Kowalewski with contact seven investigates you have a moment and do not can you please leave the building we’ve been working to get a comment from your facility we have two families that have said what you do here is a big problem I’m asking you please leave the property if you don’t we’re gonna have to call the police okay no answers and no explanations for two colorado families struggling to understand decisions made by mental health providers inside this building what do you hope this story produces they close so here’s your takeaway contact seven investigates has confirmed investigators from two state agencies are now looking into claims by those concerned family members a representative from the attorney general’s office met with Mike last week we also received this statement from a second state agency the office of behavioral health is currently investigating two complaints about the involuntary hold process and we have a site visit planned in the immediate future now during the past 24 hours we’ve received several calls from current and former employees all supporting the facts you just heard tonight if you have information about Clearview please reach out to me on facebook twitter or call me here at Denver 7:00

Over the last several months, there have been serious questions about a mental health facility in northern Colorado.