Hundreds of Native Americans have been scammed by fake rehabilitation centers in Phoenix, according to an Aug. 22 report from ABC News.
The Phoenix addiction treatment centers targeted Medicaid's American Indian Health Program in a billing scheme that left many individuals homeless after they traveled from out of state to seek treatment. State officials estimate that the scams have defrauded Arizona out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Autumn Nelson, a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, said she was given a one-way airline ticket by a rehabilitation center that had been recommended to her by other tribal members. She was kicked out of the program after a month for questioning the staff-to-patient ratio and absence of any Native American staff, leaving her stranded in Phoenix.
The Navajo Nation and the Blackfeet Nation have both declared public health emergencies. The Navajo Nation launched the Operation Rainbow Bridge program that works to place members into real programs or back to the reservation. Tribal leadership of the Blackfeet Nation declared members will face thousands of dollars in fines or possible expulsion if they are caught recruiting for fake programs, according to the report.
The governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs, stepped up an investigation looking into fraudulent Medicaid billing that commenced before her term started, which the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General's Office have now joined. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid managed care program, implemented a six-month halt for enrolling new behavioral health clinics for Medicaid billing and is now requiring background checks with fingerprinting when enrolling or revalidating high-risk behavioral health providers.