An Orange County Health Care Agency review found Telecare also attempted to bill Medi-Cal for services provided by uncredentialed staffers.
Telecare Corp.’s drug and alcohol program was supposed to be the “cream of the crop,” an important part of the much-heraldedin Orange serving as a one-stop shop for mental health and substance abuse services for the poor and vulnerable.
A review by the Orange County Health Care Agency dated February 2022 said, “Telecare has continued to allow staff who are not properly credentialed to deliver Medi-Cal covered services and has claimed Medi-Cal reimbursement in reliance of those services. This practice is viewed as fraudulent.” “Everything relating to mental health requires due diligence and oversight, because these are people’s lives. It’s urgent and you can’t take it for granted,” White said. “If people aren’t credentialed for drug and alcohol rehab, it’s reckless. If they aren’t credentialed and verified, they are just messing with the minds of people who need the most help.”
During its run, Telecare served 1,926 clients in Orange. After it closed, clients were spread around other county services while a replacement provider, Healthright 360, was hired.As of Jan. 1, the residential substance abuse program at the Orange campus no longer is directly overseen by the county. Now it is managed by Mind OC, the nonprofit group managing the Be Well operation, according to Marshall Moncrief, chief executive of Mind OC/Be Well.
While Telecare was accused in the county review of conducting a “fraudulent practice,” Medi-Cal and law enforcement officials as well as the full county Board of Supervisors were not notified. “These were people who were trying to do their best during the pandemic. That’s not fraud,” she said. “ should not have said ‘fraud.’ Was it a violation? Was it shoddy administration on the part of the provider? Yes.”Telecare spokesperson Daphne Phillips also stressed the belief that no fraud was committed, and pointed to the firm’s lengthy history of success.
“Many of their folks did not complete the training,” Kelley said. “We could not keep up with getting all of the staff credentialed and onboarded before they started providing services.” The county review also found Telecare failed to provide the minimum five hours of service per week to each beneficiary and failed to document those services altogether.
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