Senator urges CMS to tighten residential treatment facility rules

Sen. Ron Wyden says he is "hard at work" drafting legislation to regulate residential behavioral treatment facilities. 

Mr. Wyden, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure Sept. 3, recommending regulatory actions the agency could implement to improve oversight of residential facilities. In June, the Senate Finance Committee published a report alleging children are frequently harmed in such facilities. 

The report was the result of investigations the committee opened into behavioral residential facilities operated by four providers — Universal Health Services, Acadia Healthcare, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health and Vivant Behavioral Healthcare — in 2022. 

Mr. Wyden recommended CMS and the Administration for Children and Families do more to prioritize community behavioral services over residential facilities. The senator also recommended the agencies implement clearer oversight requirements for facilities and find ways to include those who have been treated in residential facilities in decision-making. 

In the letter, Mr. Wyden said he is drafting legislation that will fund community alternatives for behavioral care, and toughen standards and strengthen oversight of facilities. 

"I realize there are children whose needs are best served by residential care, but, in too many instances, children are not receiving that level of care nor an acceptable caliber of care in residential treatment facilities," he wrote. 

In its June report, the the Senate Finance Committee alleged that sexual abuse, improper uses of seclusion and restraint and unsafe and unsanitary conditions persist in residential treatment facilities.

Executives at Universal Health Services and Acadia Healthcare said they have not seen any noticeable referral declines in the wake of the report. 

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