Patient Referral Fees and Kickbacks
I live in a half-way house for substance abuse. I pay my own rent. Other residents here are getting insurance coverage for IOPs, and the half-way house refers them to a program that gives the half-way house a kickback for each insured patient who enrolls. They have told me that they want me to move out. I think it's because they make more money from rent and kickbacks than they do from somebody like me, as they can't get anything more than the rent money from me. Is there something that I can do? This is in Florida.
Re: Patient Referral Fees and Kickbacks
If this is a Medicare / Medicaid situation, you can report your suspicions to the state Medicaid agency and to HHS for investigation. If it's private insurance, it's a matter that the insurance companies would need to address with the IOP, and unless you know what insurance companies are involved there's not much you can do -- and even if you figure out to whom to complain, nobody can promise that they'll agree that there is a problem or that it's a problem worth investigating. You can report your suspicions to law enforcement, but don't expect it to e a top priority, or even within the expertise, of a regular police agency.
Even if we assume shenanigans -- and if you're right, this would appear to be a violation of Florida's anti-kickback / patient brokering law, Florida Statutes Sec. 817.505 -- your right to be a resident does not depend upon any financial misdeeds that relate to other residents. If they want you out, eventually they are going to get you out.