I-Team exposes behavioral health fraud

I-Team exposes behavioral health fraud

OK, Linds, thanks. Tonight parents are calling on state leaders to do a better job weeding out fraud in Arizona’s behavioral health care system. The IT Team’s Erica Stapleton has been tracking this growing parent movement and shows us how families are taking on more responsibilities amid a broken system. On Team Arizona Mad Moms, — this is when
— they took his medication. The marathon is constant. This is the night we pulled him out. And the hurdles are endless. I had been going through this battle. — I was the only person on the
— planet. Beth Pera learned about Arizona mad moms in 2024 when she felt hopeless, trying to navigate the behavioral health system with her 29-year-old son Nick, who has schizophrenia. The growing group in part lobbies lawmakers for better services for those with a serious mental illness and more oversight in Arizona’s behavioral healthcare system. I had to find out from moms and t-shirts how to do this or I probably wouldn’t be here and neither would my son. — Beth
— became her son’s legal guardian, got him on a different medication, and learned how to advocate. She thought they had everything figured out when she said her son was placed in a behavioral health home in June 2024, but just a few months later in September, — they tried to put my son back in
— psychosis. For someone with schizophrenia. Medication can be a life or death issue, and on that day she claimed staff were trying to give her son the wrong medication, and then they yelled at him and when he threatened to call the police, my husband and I just packed. We just said don’t say a word, slowly pack. So we pulled him out that night. Now Nick stays with them full time. We are very blessed that I can do this. Because there’s so many that can’t. — Beth
— filed a grievance against the behavioral health company, reporting in part that staff tried to give her son the wrong medication, Mercy Care, the state agency that takes complaints, and then they kept just saying we need more time to investigate. We need more time to investigate then — not substantiated and
— then not substantiated. — What was it like
— to see those? I was furious. 12 News is not naming the company because the allegations. were not substantiated, although Beth is appealing. The company declined our interview request, citing company policy and HIPAA guidelines. I met Beth while working on a story about mom dumping when families are taking in their loved one with a serious mental illness because services from the state aren’t working. — It’s a system that has failed many families for the
— past two legislative sessions, Arizona State Senator Catherine Miranda. Has tried to shine a spotlight on these issues, including a shortage of quality housing options for those with a serious mental illness. Do you think there’s fraud within the behavioral health system? Absolutely. There is absolute fraud, but during the time that we’re navigating it and trying to identify where the fraud is, we cannot punish the legitimate facilities. There’s overlap with the state’s sober. Living home crisis where some providers build the state for services that weren’t happening. Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays estimates the fraud cost Arizona taxpayers more than $2 billion. The IT team obtained new records that show since 2023, Axis, Arizona’s Medicaid program, terminated contracts with more than 150 behavioral health providers for fraud. Does that number surprise you? I’m surprised it’s not higher. Because there’s no oversight, where is all this money going? But if you took the fraud away from these people and put it here. Then we could have more hospitals, then we would have more people getting treatment, real treatment, not kicked out, not mom dumped. This month, Beth said she got a letter from Axis saying in part that her grievance would be returned to Mercy Care because it didn’t address the allegations about medication errors and the alleged inappropriate use of funding. In a statement, the behavioral health company’s CEO said they vehemently deny any allegation of fraud and want to focus on providing services to their residents. Mercy. He said it couldn’t comment on individual cases and Axis declined our request for an interview. Who do you think should be accountable when it comes to ensuring these systems are working correctly for these families? — Our
— audit department, you know, should be at the table, senators, the representatives, we should follow up on what we present here, what we propose here. — Beth’s
— son Nick is doing well at home. — He’s
— really proud of his recovery, — but
— the marathon is still far from over before the mad moms can just be moms again. Beth Per recently started a volunteer role with an independent oversight committee that does unannounced site visits to group homes, and they can report issues to the state. So I’ve talked with a few of those volunteers, and the findings vary. Some homes seem good, some raise some questions, but overall, Mark Carribe, Beth hopes to see more oversight from the state beyond volunteers and more quality housing options for someone with a serious mental illness. — So
— Erica, is it just sort of a, a buyer beware. If you’re a parent that has decided to take care of your adult child with mental problems, mental issues, or is there a way that you can sort of vet these homes? You know, I actually asked that exact question to Senator Miranda. I said, how do parents know whether or not they’re going to a good home? And something she said was, honestly, it’s word of mouth. People need to be telling these stories. People need to be talking about these situations. And I think overall, if you look at my Yesterday, guys, this mom dumping issue, it’s not something that’s talked about very often, and I think the more people are aware of what’s going on in the state’s behavioral healthcare system, the more people will be talking about it and maybe more solutions will come to the surface. So that’s the goal with our reporting, of course, yeah, seems like there should be some kind of rating system, right? — Or you can know their performance yeah
— and the state goes in and inspects them all the time and puts that information out to the public yeah Erica, thanks still ahead.

Parents are looking to state leaders to do a better job of weeding out behavioral health fraud.