May 21, 2018 03:08 PM
(This post was last modified: May 21, 2018 03:28 PM by C C.)
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/21/17370...-brokering
EXCERPT: . . . The combination of the opioid crisis and Obamacare, which made it easy to get insurance that covered addiction treatment, has driven a boom in the rehab market. Centers that manage to attract clients with the right insurance policies stand to earn massive profits, and some spend millions of dollars on marketing to do so, often wooing addicts from around the country to rehab hubs in Florida and Southern California.
It’s not uncommon for rehabs to use deceptive advertising or offer inducements like plane tickets to people with lucrative policies. Marketers often contract with treatment centers that pay them to bring in clients, whether per head or through a monthly contract. Individual patients are so valuable that the system has spawned a “patient brokering” market, where centers — sometimes illegally — buy and sell the right to treat an individual person.
It’s hard to put together a consistent set of ethical norms in treatment center marketing. Every one of the dozens of treatment center owners and operators I spoke to in the course of this reporting was swift to condemn patient brokering, but they also complained that it’s hard for them to stay open without buying clients like everyone else does. Some people say it’s okay to pay marketers monthly contracts but not bonuses; others say it’s okay to pay performance bonuses as long as they’re not strictly tied to the number of patients. But there are two general rules that come up every time: 1) don’t be deceptive about who you are, and 2) don’t blatantly pay per-head for patients.
“Outside of pay per head, it becomes a real grey, ambiguous area that people are walking in,” said David Skonezny, a consultant in the industry and the founder of It’s Time for Ethics in Addiction Treatment, a Facebook group where industry professionals discuss both general principles and specific treatment centers. He says people may be engaging in brokering while thinking they’re doing the right thing: helping people get sober and getting paid to boot. But he urges addicts to be extremely wary, especially online.
A few months ago, Skonezny posted a warning in his group, encouraging members to spread it around Facebook: “CAUTION: Often times people in social media groups are solicited or respond to posts that on the surface appear to be an offer of help when these posters actually represent unscrupulous centers and are getting compensated...for referring you or your loved one to a treatment center or sober living.”
Rehab marketers have embraced the internet, where tech companies have made it easier and easier for them to pick the most desperate targets out of a crowd. Last year, after I reported on misleading rehab ads on Google, the company temporarily banned ads from treatment centers. Google has announced it will allow them again, provided the centers and their operators pass a background check and license verification. Few stakeholders I’ve talked to have faith in that solution.
On Facebook, rehab marketers are even harder to pin down. Some publicly announce themselves as representatives of a given center and offer their assistance to people who are struggling. Others run community support groups without disclosing their financial interests, creating a pool of help-seeking people to fish for leads or hang out in groups that already exist, waiting for prospects.
[...] In November, I wrote about Affected by Addiction, the Facebook group where Couch was pitched by a marketer, and its ties to rehab marketing companies. At the time, Mendoza, the group’s founder, was working as a marketer at a California treatment center called Windward Way, and Affected by Addiction was part of the rehab’s marketing arm, though that wasn’t disclosed in the group.
When I reached out to Facebook for that story, a spokesperson sent a bizarre response, saying they knew about the undisclosed conflict of interest, but they thought it was a good thing.
“We know that managing communities like Affected By Addiction Support Group can require a huge time commitment...We believe in sustainable business models to create positive impact in the world,” the Facebook spokesperson wrote, linking to other community groups, such as a rock collection fan page run by a store selling rocks.
[...] Because Facebook relies on users to flag bad behavior, rather than actively policing groups like Affected by Addiction, it’s up to group owners to assemble their own moderation teams and train them to recognize and solve problems. In big groups, those moderators have a huge workload and enormous responsibility, dealing with everything from suicidal members to predatory marketers. It’s a lot to ask of any volunteers, especially ones who don’t have any training or experience in handling these life-or-death questions. [...] There are enormous numbers of Facebook groups and pages targeting addicts and their families, and it seems like every one, big or small, is a potential hunting ground for marketers, whether the admins intend for them to be or not.
MORE: https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/21/17370...-brokering
EXCERPT: . . . The combination of the opioid crisis and Obamacare, which made it easy to get insurance that covered addiction treatment, has driven a boom in the rehab market. Centers that manage to attract clients with the right insurance policies stand to earn massive profits, and some spend millions of dollars on marketing to do so, often wooing addicts from around the country to rehab hubs in Florida and Southern California.
It’s not uncommon for rehabs to use deceptive advertising or offer inducements like plane tickets to people with lucrative policies. Marketers often contract with treatment centers that pay them to bring in clients, whether per head or through a monthly contract. Individual patients are so valuable that the system has spawned a “patient brokering” market, where centers — sometimes illegally — buy and sell the right to treat an individual person.
It’s hard to put together a consistent set of ethical norms in treatment center marketing. Every one of the dozens of treatment center owners and operators I spoke to in the course of this reporting was swift to condemn patient brokering, but they also complained that it’s hard for them to stay open without buying clients like everyone else does. Some people say it’s okay to pay marketers monthly contracts but not bonuses; others say it’s okay to pay performance bonuses as long as they’re not strictly tied to the number of patients. But there are two general rules that come up every time: 1) don’t be deceptive about who you are, and 2) don’t blatantly pay per-head for patients.
“Outside of pay per head, it becomes a real grey, ambiguous area that people are walking in,” said David Skonezny, a consultant in the industry and the founder of It’s Time for Ethics in Addiction Treatment, a Facebook group where industry professionals discuss both general principles and specific treatment centers. He says people may be engaging in brokering while thinking they’re doing the right thing: helping people get sober and getting paid to boot. But he urges addicts to be extremely wary, especially online.
A few months ago, Skonezny posted a warning in his group, encouraging members to spread it around Facebook: “CAUTION: Often times people in social media groups are solicited or respond to posts that on the surface appear to be an offer of help when these posters actually represent unscrupulous centers and are getting compensated...for referring you or your loved one to a treatment center or sober living.”
Rehab marketers have embraced the internet, where tech companies have made it easier and easier for them to pick the most desperate targets out of a crowd. Last year, after I reported on misleading rehab ads on Google, the company temporarily banned ads from treatment centers. Google has announced it will allow them again, provided the centers and their operators pass a background check and license verification. Few stakeholders I’ve talked to have faith in that solution.
On Facebook, rehab marketers are even harder to pin down. Some publicly announce themselves as representatives of a given center and offer their assistance to people who are struggling. Others run community support groups without disclosing their financial interests, creating a pool of help-seeking people to fish for leads or hang out in groups that already exist, waiting for prospects.
[...] In November, I wrote about Affected by Addiction, the Facebook group where Couch was pitched by a marketer, and its ties to rehab marketing companies. At the time, Mendoza, the group’s founder, was working as a marketer at a California treatment center called Windward Way, and Affected by Addiction was part of the rehab’s marketing arm, though that wasn’t disclosed in the group.
When I reached out to Facebook for that story, a spokesperson sent a bizarre response, saying they knew about the undisclosed conflict of interest, but they thought it was a good thing.
“We know that managing communities like Affected By Addiction Support Group can require a huge time commitment...We believe in sustainable business models to create positive impact in the world,” the Facebook spokesperson wrote, linking to other community groups, such as a rock collection fan page run by a store selling rocks.
[...] Because Facebook relies on users to flag bad behavior, rather than actively policing groups like Affected by Addiction, it’s up to group owners to assemble their own moderation teams and train them to recognize and solve problems. In big groups, those moderators have a huge workload and enormous responsibility, dealing with everything from suicidal members to predatory marketers. It’s a lot to ask of any volunteers, especially ones who don’t have any training or experience in handling these life-or-death questions. [...] There are enormous numbers of Facebook groups and pages targeting addicts and their families, and it seems like every one, big or small, is a potential hunting ground for marketers, whether the admins intend for them to be or not.
MORE: https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/21/17370...-brokering