Dozens Died in Sober Living Homes as Arizona Fumbled Fraud Response

But according to public records, there were signs of trouble within facilities and problems with providers’ licenses. While sober living houses have research touting their efficacy, it is also important to remember that they are still environments where you are living with others and the focus is on staying sober. Over the years, sober living houses have evolved to meet the needs of those in recovery. As such, sober living associations now make finding a residence easier.

• A white van pulled up to the Hustito family’s house to take him back to Phoenix.
• The agency would later find more than 13,000 unlicensed providers eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements, though only a fraction were behavioral health or accused of wrongdoing.
• Finally, a transitional housing center with a sobriety requirement could be of great help if you’re struggling with housing insecurity, mainly due to addiction struggles.
• Even as AHCCCS struggled to stop the schemes, it was clear the behavioral health care industry was aware of fraudulent billing, according to agency documents.
• Sober living facilities are often thought of as a sober person’s pipeline to life in mainstream society.
• This setting is conducive to disclosure of underlying shame, guilt, anger and stress in a private, confidential setting.

Recovery and Maintenance are usually based on 12 step programs and AA meetings. Co-occurring disorders are to be expected in all behavioral health settings and we provide services that emphasizes continuity and quality that is in the best interest of the client. A great way to find a sober living house in your area is first to explore your network. Not all sober living homes are equal, so finding a place that an acquaintance has recommended could be helpful.

Trauma Counseling

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. You can also look into Oxford Houses, which provide all recovering users the opportunity to develop comfortable sobriety without relapse. Sharing your insights and experiences can help others learn more about this rehab center. Dialectical behavior therapy helps you understand and regulate your emotions and better manage the situations that evoke those feelings.

Programs

Patients continued to die even after Arizona officials in May 2023 announced a sweeping investigation of hundreds of facilities. By then, the fraud was so widespread that officials spent the next year seeking to halt Medicaid reimbursements to behavioral health businesses accused of wrongdoing. Going to a sober living house has been proven to support sobriety efforts, with results ranging from a decreased amount of relapses to long-term sobriety. If you or someone you know has recently quit drinking alcohol and is now sober—congratulations, quitting alcohol can be a long and difficult process.

The History of Sober Living Houses

The changes were not communicated beyond Snyder’s senior leadership team for nearly two years, according to documentation provided by an AHCCCS spokesperson. Something important to note is that sober living houses are not the same as halfway houses. While they are both residences designed to support folks in maintaining sobriety and transitioning back into society, there are some key differences. Trauma therapy addresses traumatic incidents from a client’s past that are likely affecting their present-day experience. The purpose of trauma therapy is to allow a patient to process trauma and move through and past it, with the help of trained and compassionate mental health professionals. In individual therapy, a patient meets one-on-one with a trained psychologist or counselor.

He had been a caretaker for his father when he was on dialysis and awaiting a kidney transplant. In the fall of 2021, Hustito sought treatment for alcoholism in Arizona, his family said. His father, an Army veteran and custodian for the local Indian Health Service hospital, was relieved to learn about his son’s decision. The two were close, living in the family’s home in a historic tribal village surrounded by high desert and mesas.

Should You Go to a Sober Living House?

The first uptick in behavioral health reimbursement claims came in 2019. That same year, Ducey appointed Jami Snyder, a deputy director at AHCCCS and former head of Texas’ Medicaid agency, to serve as director of AHCCCS. She pursued A Guide To Sober House Rules: What You Need To Know new initiatives, like additional mental health services and housing options for Medicaid recipients. She also had a more hands-off approach to agency operations, including fraud prevention, than her predecessors, according to former AHCCCS employees. The fraud flourished for years under the state’s American Indian Health Program, a Medicaid insurance option for tribal citizens that allowed providers to set their own reimbursement rates.

Reviews of Sobriety House

This fee-for-service model, established as a result of federal requirements, aimed to ensure coverage for Native Americans living in areas not typically served by insurance companies. But with no limit on how much they could bill, some behavioral health providers claimed tens of thousands of dollars for a single counseling or treatment session. The deaths, almost all from drug and alcohol use, span from the spring of 2022 to the summer of 2024, according to a review of records from the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner.

The team responsible for setting rates had determined that amount was in line with industry standards. State records show the business, which received a state health department license in April 2021, was reimbursed $3.5 million from Medicaid that year. The next year, Beyond4Wallz’s Medicaid claims more than tripled, to $11.1 million. The place where he stayed in Phoenix, a two-story house with a hot tub and swimming pool, looked like a mansion in the photos that Jeffrey Hustito shared in text messages, his sister, Katherine Hustito, said. She was pleased he seemed happy, though she was surprised the treatment program operators had helped him get an Arizona identification card and sign up for Medicaid in the state. Jeffrey Hustito decided to seek treatment in Phoenix based on a recommendation from friends at Zuni Pueblo.

Rehab Score

There are also plenty of independent sober living houses that have not changed their protocols much since the late 1940s when these residences came to be. Our primary purpose is to assist individuals through rehabilitation to live a life free from dependency on alcohol or drugs. https://thecinnamonhollow.com/a-guide-to-sober-house-rules-what-you-need-to-know/ The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) is a non-profit organization that specifically accredits rehab organizations. Founded in 1966, CARF’s, mission is to help service providers like rehab facilities maintain high standards of care. Opioid rehabs specialize in supporting those recovering from opioid addiction. They treat those suffering from addiction to illegal opioids like heroin, as well as prescription drugs like oxycodone.

At AHCCCS, staff received news in March of a death inside a residential treatment program, Adams said. In an interview, she could not recall details of the death or the facility where it occurred. But she said a health and safety committee reviewing the death discovered the facility did not have a health department license, a key detail that would repeatedly appear in later investigations.

The sessions allow clients to explore tools and techniques in a safe environment that can assist them in their recovery process. Clients can make an appointment with their therapist to bring in family members to educate them on the disease of addiction and how to support the suffering client. We offer AA and NA meetings for outside and residential individuals. Clients can receive individual and group therapy while living in the community. But many people still became homeless as facilities closed their doors with little notice or coordinated care for patients, according to advocates.