TRAFFICKED
TO
TREATMENT
WHAT HAPPENED
THE IMPACT
THE SOLUTION
PRESENTING THE PROBLEM
Overview of the Medicaid Fraud Schemes
- Outpatient treatment centers and behavioral residential facilities somehow obtained a license from Arizona Department of Health Service, exploited Arizona's Medicaid systems call AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Consumers Cost System) and billed the American Indian Health Program (AIHP).
- Lack of oversight and audits enabled these bad actors to easily obtain AHCCCS ID's and bill excessively for services never rendered.
- Patient brokers targeted and trafficked Native Americans from reservations in Arizona and then moved across state lines with promise of luxury accommodations, Air BnB's, steak dinners and money and kept the in flop houses that they called "sober living homes" but there was nothing sober about them
- Lack of enforcement of state laws allowed these bad actors to continue to profit off of the backs of those struggling with addiction.
- Billing for outpatient health services increased from $53.5million in 2019 to $668million in 2022, a 1148% increase in just three years
- Estimated total cost to taxpayers is at $2.8billion and climbing.
- There are reports of at least 2000 deaths in these homes in less than 5 years continuously increasing
- As of June 2024, over 385 providers were suspended by AHCCCS and 73 individuals indicted in connection to the fraud.
Bad actors exploited AHCCCS' program and billing systems responsible for AIHP members which requires no contracting or credentialing process. An outdated billing systems coupled with no audits on oversight of payments created a perfect storm ripe for fraud. Bad actors continued to traffic, house and bill for American Indians of treatment in which never occurred.
Systemic failures
&
red flags missed
Complaints from the public went uninvestigated. Zero audits and oversight allowed AHCCCS billings to increase exponentially. Oversight including follow up surveys/annual site surveys did not take place with newly license operators which led to a lack of investigation of flop houses posing as licensed sober living homes. Lack of Enforcement of State Laws that prohibit patient brokering and referrals to unlicensed homes also was an issue of oversight. AZ Rev Stat § 13-3730 (2018)
Empowering & Educating Tribal commuities
- Collaborate with tribal leaders to develop culturally specific prevention and treatment resources directly in Native Communities.
- Launch public awareness campaigns to educate tribal members on warning signs of fraudulent facilities and how to report suspected abuse.
- Establish dedicated support services and reintegration programs for victims displaced by fraudulent sober living homes.
Grassroots response & advocacy
Stolen People Stolen Benefits, continues to Gather information and Report displaced victims, missing relatives, and deceased relatives on a daily basis.
dATA cOLLECTION
Turtle Island Women Warriors Leadership Team with its volunteer's field hundreds of calls from families searching for missing relatives.
BOOTS ON THE GROUND OUTREACH
Distribution of Care Packages received from collected donations are assembled and packaged to be distributed to displaced victims living on the streets of Phoenix.
Each Care Package comes with:
- Hygiene Kit
- First Aid Kit
- Snack Pack
- Hydration Kit
- Winter Bundle Kit
devastating consequences for American Indian Communities
Estimated 2000+ American Indians deceased or unaccounted for after being trafficked to fraudulent facilities.
Victims faced neglect, abuse and squalor living conditions without treatment of any kind.
Strain on tribal resource and services as families search for missing loved ones with support returning victims to their tribal reservations.
Turtle Island Women Warriors Leadership Team and its Volunteers have assisted hundreds of beneficiaries through local outreach distributions and transportation back home to tribal lands.
May 2024 to October 2024 (6mo)
- Assisted less than 20 families out of Arizona in travels with Plane Tickets to: Alaska, Montana including North & South Dakota.
- Assisted over 100 individuals with Grey Hound Bus Tickets to: Oklahoma, Colorado & Nebraska
- Summer & Fall Seasons over 5k care packages distributed and over 100 bus passes for local Phoenix Zip Codes. (Since the implementation of New Valley Metro Bus Pass System, local bus passes have been at halt of assisting).
Investing in legitimate treatment infrastructure
Allocating funds to expand access with evidence-based, culturally responsive substance abuse and mental health services on tribal lands to support training and professional development for Native Behavioral health workers. Building long term treatment capacities and partnerships with reputable providers to establish best practices for service native clients with cultural humility could help avoid humanitarian issues within American Indigenous Communities.
Strengthing oversight
enfrocement
"We must work together and that includes tribal state and federal authorities, service providers and community members to ensure this never happens again. The lives of our native relatives depends on it"
- Lee Yaiva
implement
Regular audits and enhanced data analysis to identify billing irregularities and suspicious provider networks.
Educate our communities and provide resources to those affected by this fraud. A small shine of light to bring justice for our American Indian Relatives and the unfortunately silenced.
Investigate
prosecute
&
Enforce
Increase funding with its resources for investigating and prosecuting AHCCCS fraud and patient brokering schemes as there is already State Laws on the books for patient brokering and referrals to unlicensed homes.
communicate
&
coordinate
Improve communication and coordination between state agencies and tribal authorities.
Direct Coordination with one-on-one communication with Installed Taskforce Agencies and Other Trusted Organizations to create a networking database to better access up to date data.
