Summary
Sauder Schelkopf is investigating a possible class action lawsuit against New Jersey drug rehabilitation facilities for providing alleged kickbacks such as cash or other favors for the referral of patients with private insurance. This illegal practice, referred to as “patient brokering,” occurs when someone accepts a payment to refer a patient to a specific addiction treatment center. If you or a family member were a patient at a drug rehabilitation facility in New Jersey and utilized private medical insurance during this time, please contact the lawyers at Sauder Schelkopf by filling out the form on this page.
Sauder Schelkopf is investigating a possible class action lawsuit against New Jersey drug rehabilitation facilities for providing alleged kickbacks such as cash or other favors for the referral of patients with private insurance. This illegal practice, referred to as “patient brokering,” occurs when someone accepts a payment to refer a patient to a specific addiction treatment center.
According to an article published by the Philadelphia Inquirer, “patients with private insurance are particularly vulnerable because their insurance programs reimburse rehabs at a higher rate than Medicaid or Medicare – so a rehab that can pull in more privately insured patients stands to make more money than one that accepts public insurance.” The article goes on to state that “[t]he practice is illegal in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as federally. But some rehab facilities in New Jersey have attempted to skirt the law, investigators said, by concealing patient brokering schemes as other kinds of payments.”
“SCI Special Agent Eric Rennert told the commission that rehab clinics around the country were paying Recovery Advocates of America, a Hamilton, N.J. nonprofit that helped patients find addiction treatment, to send patients with private insurance their way. The payments were allegedly disguised as donations to the nonprofit or ‘sponsorship agreements,’ Rennert said.”
As explained in the article, “providing referrals in exchange for donations ‘incentivizes people, organizations who are supposed to be helping vulnerable patients into treatment centers that may not be best suited for them,’ Rennert said. It also encourages nonprofits like Recovery Advocates to mistreat or ignore patients without private insurance.”
If you or a family member were a patient at a drug rehabilitation facility in New Jersey, or referred to a drug treatment facility from a New Jersey facility, and utilized private medical insurance during this time, please contact the lawyers at Sauder Schelkopf by filling out the form on this page.
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Sauder Schelkopf has a nationally recognized sexual misconduct practice. The firm’s attorneys have represented survivors of clergy sexual abuse in dioceses throughout the country. Our firm currently serves as court-appointed lead counsel in courts across the country. The attorneys at Sauder Schelkopf have recovered over $500 million on behalf of their clients and class members. In the 2023 edition of U.S. News & World Report, Best Lawyers® Sauder Schelkopf was named as a Best Law Firm. To achieve this ranking, peers nominate firms based on experience, service, success, and performance. Our firm was recognized by the Legal Intelligencer’s 2022 Professional Excellence Awards. The Legal Intelligencer’s Professional Excellence Awards honor Pennsylvania law firms and attorneys who have made a significant, positive impact on the legal profession. Our firm was named in the Litigation Departments of the Year (Specialty Area category), an award that honors the best litigation practice in a small or mid-sized firm in Pennsylvania. This recognition was based on the firm’s 2021 litigation work and its important ongoing cases. Our attorneys have been recognized by LawDragon in its list of the “500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers” for 2022. This list notes: “From the opioid epidemic to toxic substances and defective products, truck accidents to wildfires and sexual abuse, these are the lawyers who stand on the front line in individual lawsuits and class actions seeking justice.” Mr. Schelkopf was named to Pennsylvania’s Best Lawyers® 2022 for Class Actions/Mass Tort Litigation. The American Lawyer named Mr. Sauder to its 2021 Northeast Trailblazers. The honor recognizes 60 lawyers who are “truly agents of change.” It “recognizes professionals in the Northeast who have moved the needle in the legal industry.” The Legal Intelligencer named Mr. Sauder and Mr. Schelkopf in its 2020 Pennsylvania Trailblazers list recognizing 31 lawyers who “have taken extra measures to contribute to positive outcomes . . . and who are truly agents of change.” The Legal highlighted Mr. Sauder’s innovative work on advocacy as class counsel in large institutional sex abuse cover-ups, women’s, and children’s rights. Our attorneys have also consistently been recognized by our peers being named to Pennsylvania SuperLawyer, a distinction held by the top 5% of attorneys in Pennsylvania. Our attorneys have also been selected by the National Trial Lawyers Association as the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania
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If you or a family member were a patient at a drug rehabilitation facility in New Jersey and utilized private medical insurance during this time, please contact the lawyers at Sauder Schelkopf by filling out the form on this page.