Wyden asks DOJ to Investigate Medicaid Fraud by Youth Residential Treatment Facilities and Potential Civil Rights Violations by States
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today asked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate whether four major youth residential treatment facilities (RTFs) are committing Medicaid fraud by failing to provide needed care that they are required to provide to Medicaid beneficiaries. Wyden also asked that the DOJ investigate whether states are violating the civil rights of children and youth by placing them in facilities rather than providing access to community-based care.
In his request, Wyden shared evidence of potential civil rights violations and Medicaid fraud uncovered by his two-year investigation into Universal Health Services, Acadia Healthcare, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, and Vivant Behavioral Healthcare that exposed systemic taxpayer-funded child abuse and neglect in youth RTFs across the United States.
“Vulnerable children are being used as pawns to maximize the profits of these facilities – and American taxpayers are footing the bill. More often than not, these kids aren’t even getting the basic care they need, and instead are in many cases experiencing serious neglect and abuse,” said Wyden. “With the health and safety of kids involved – and pages of evidence – it’s time for the DOJ to get involved.”
In a letter to the DOJ, Wyden shared that despite Universal Health Services, Acadia Healthcare, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, and Vivant Behavioral Healthcare receiving billions of Medicaid dollars, his investigation found that facilities are often providing substandard and inadequate health care. His investigation likewise found that facilities may bill Medicaid for services that were never effectively rendered at the expense of children with immediate, serious health needs. In many instances, facilities are also failing to adhere to basic regulations regarding the safety of children, in particular through their misuse of restraint and seclusion.
Separately, Wyden expressed concerns that states are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to their overreliance on RTFs – and failing to provide appropriate access to community-based behavioral health services as required by the law. Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. LC, the ADA requires states to provide people with disabilities (including people with behavioral health conditions) access to care in the most integrated settings possible, which is appropriate to their needs. Instead, the findings of Wyden’s investigation suggest that state agencies may be impermissibly removing children from their communities to receive treatment. In 2022 alone, 34,000 youth were placed in RTFs through state foster care systems. Many of these RTF placements resulted from a child welfare agency’s inability to identify capacity in the community, rather than the actual behavioral health needs of the child.
The letter to DOJ expressing concerns about Medicaid fraud is here.
The letter to DOJ expressing concerns about civil rights violations is here.
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