Update 6:05 PM ET: Added Acadia Response
Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ:ACHC), one of the largest operators of behavioral health centers in the United States, is holding people against their will in order to maximize insurance payments, The New York Times reported Sunday.
In in At least 12 of the 19 states where Acadia (ACHC) operates psychiatric hospitals, and dozens of patients, employees and police officers have told authorities that the company is holding people in ways that violate the law, the report said, citing records.
In a statement to Seeking Alpha, the company called the report’s assertions inaccurate.
According to a reportSome patients who came seeking routine mental health care found themselves sent to ACHC facilities and locked up.
The report added, citing records and interviews, that the company used laws designed for people who pose an immediate danger to themselves to detain patients who did not appear to meet those legal criteria.
The report alleged that ACHC detained patients for financial, not medical, reasons.
Acadia (ACHC) uses a number of strategies to persuade insurance companies to pay for longer stays, according to the report, citing interviews with employees.
“Acadia exaggerated patients’ symptoms. It adjusted medication dosages, then claimed that patients needed to stay longer because of the adjustment. It also claimed that patients were not healthy enough to leave because they had not finished their meals,” the New York Times alleged. “Unless patients or their families hired lawyers, Acadia often held them until their insurance ran out.”
“Acadia (ACHC) said that decisions about patient care, including the length of treatment that may be necessary, are never considered business decisions made by the company,” adding: “The description of the few historical cases cited does not represent all the facts that affect complex medical decisions made by multidisciplinary teams led by psychiatrists.”