T he advertisements are everywhere. On television, a sleek black sedan pulls up to a sprawling estate with a rolling green lawn as a mother recounts how Recovery Centers of America saved her child from drugs. The marketing blitz and an infusion of private equity money have helped make Recovery Centers of America into the self-described fastest-growing addiction treatment provider in the country. This report is based on interviews with more than a dozen former and current employees, internal RCA documents, and state investigative reports — depicting a company that spends lavishly on facilities and marketing while skimping on giving patients basic care.
They were often unsupervised. And patients were found to be having sex. RCA operates luxury residential and outpatient facilities in five northeastern states, featuring original artwork, custom furniture, and manicured gardens.
Each day, fresh linens are carefully folded and placed on the end of patient beds. Every room has a flat-screen television and private bathroom. But when state regulators inspected the facility in February , they found that essential services like individual counseling and group therapy sessions were not regularly being provided, worker training was lacking, the facility was understaffed, and patients were not properly supervised.
One staff member complained to the state that patients were trading their medication for financial and physical favors. Staff members grew so incensed about conditions inside the facility that one wrote an inflammatory email to management. The state report did not indicate that investigators found drugs inside the facility.
RCA also said it conducted its own investigation and determined the state findings of staff shortages and lack of programming were wrong, and that, in fact, RCA had more staffing and treatment services than required. The records that the state viewed were incomplete, RCA said. In one case, according to a police report attached to the state complaint, a patient drank hand sanitizer — which contains alcohol — and RCA staff attempted to wave off an ambulance called for him. The company said it prohibits sex between patients.
