The state legislature recently passed a law making patient brokering a felony. If you haven’t heard of patient brokering, well, you’re in the same boat I was in until recently. Read on to learn more. What’s patient brokering? Patient brokering, sometimes called body brokering, is an issue in the substance use disorder treatment industry. It happens when one person (the broker) refers another person (the patient) to a substance use disorder treatment facility in exchange for a referral fee. These fees are often described as kickbacks. This practice may seem similar to accepted practices in other industries. For example, insurance navigators help people choose between insurance plans (though they don't receive referral fees), and services like A Place for Mom are paid referral fees for matching older adults with senior living communities. These referral fees have spawned some controversy, as the Washington Post reports here, but they do not appear to be unlawful. Whatever the status of those other practices, in the substance use disorder treatment industry, patient brokering is generally recognized as having become unethical and predatory. Brokers may loiter outside 12 step meetings or methadone clinics offering cigarettes, gift cards, or cash to those willing to be brokered into a residential facility. Brokers may even provide drugs to recovering drug users in order to induce a relapse, then monetize the relapse by referring the patient to a treatment facility. In some cases, brokers refer the same patient to facility after facility, encouraging relapses in between. You can read about [...]
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