SALT LAKE CITY — More than 120 adult substance abuse treatment centers in Utah have received provisional certification from the state to ensure patients and their families that they provide high-quality services.

At least 46 programs that treat adolescents are also in the process of obtaining certification.

"I think we have a lot of work to do to help the public understand what effective treatment looks like," Brent Kelsey, assistant director at the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, told the Health Reform Task Force on Thursday. "It's very difficult to know where to send someone for help when you don't understand that addiction is a brain disease and that medications are important."

Kelsey's office has a list of standards for behavioral health care that is helping to enroll programs that are ready to help people with high-quality treatment services.

"It is critical to make sure that every bed and every treatment slot is in place and is ethical," said Travis Wood, president of the Utah Association of Addiction Treatment Providers. With an estimated 90,000 people in Utah in need of treatment and just 18,000 available slots, he said, "We need to be sure we're firing on all cylinders."

Fraudulent practices

About a year ago, lawmakers were brought up to speed on several fraudulent practices happening within the industry of substance abuse treatment in Utah. Tens of millions of dollars was paid out by local and national insurers for services that were either inappropriately billed or not actually offered to the (often made-up) patients mentioned in those claims.

Some companies recruit patients and use false information to file claims, giving the so-called patient a kickback.

While the recruiting aspect has not yet been addressed by Utah lawmakers, earlier this year they passed a bill that clarifies what constitutes a residential treatment center and closes loopholes that allowed such fraud to occur.

It appears that HB259, now law, has been effective, although not completely abolishing the problems.

"Abuses are ongoing," said Tanji Northrup, assistant commissioner of the Utah Insurance Department. She said the list is "never-ending."

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Dennis Cecchini hopes to help shield other Utah parents from experiencing the grief he has in losing his son to drug addiction.

Insurance companies, however, she said, are getting better at detecting excessive or inappropriate charges. And investigators are helped by former patients who have been wronged and are coming forward to discuss what happened.

Shawn McMillen, executive director at First Step House in Salt Lake City, said a lot has been done to clean up the industry and more providers are trying to join the Utah Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, which he says is a "group of ethical providers committed to delivering high-quality services to patients."

The association, McMillen said, is not currently accepting new applicants but is developing a code of ethics to make sure patients and their families get what they sign up for.

Kelsey said potential patients and families should check that a provider is licensed with the Utah Department of Human Services and is appropriately accredited and regulated, but also that they are certified with the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. He is also working on a scorecard system to evaluate the performance of available programs throughout the state.

"We've got to make information public," Kelsey said. "I think transparency does two things: it puts market pressure on programs to raise their quality and it also gives people a place to look to decide who is doing a good job."

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