Recent articles highlighted the many legal and financial issues plaguing Acadia Healthcare. Upon further research, additional legal and financial issues have come to light.

Lawsuits

There are now at least three lawsuits filed by disgruntled, angry investors. These lawsuits claim as a matter of its business practices and on a corporate wide basis, Acadia perpetrated fraudulent acts and engaged in acts of misconduct and malfeasance.

The oldest lawsuit was filed in 2018 by the St. Claire County Employees Retirement System on behalf of themselves and a class of other investors. The lawsuit alleges that throughout and before the Class Period,  Acadia, its officers and Board of Directors engaged  in  a  scheme  to  defraud  and  mislead  investors  concerning  patient  care,  staffing  levels,  and  legal  compliance  issues. Acadia has vigorously defended the case.  The Court granted class certification and the case is expected to go to trial in 2025.

Two other cases were filed in October 2024 after: Acadia was eviscerated by the Senate Finance Committee in a damning report in June 2024; the New York Times published a comprehensive article evidencing that Acadia was committing many wrongful and/or unethical acts towards patients; Acadia agreed to pay a $19.8 million fine to the Department of Justice and three states; Acadia agreed to pay another $1.38 million to the United States because of Acadia’s misconduct directed toward employees, and; the Veteran’s Administration announced it is conducting its own investigation into Acadia.

These cases were filed against Acadia, its CEO and CFO and prior CEO and CFO.  Amongst other claims, the lawsuits allege misrepresentation and fraud.

If found liable, Acadia could be forced to satisfy judgments in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Administrative Fines

In September 2024, Acadia agreed to pay $19.85 million dollars to the United States for knowingly submitting false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE for inpatient behavioral health services that were not reasonable nor medically necessary.

Acadia also agreed to pay $1,386,000 to the Securities Exchange Commission pursuant to a Cease and Desist Order entered on September 9, 2024. In this investigation, the SEC found that Acadia had, as a matter of its employment practices, violated rules permitting whistleblowers to receive a reward payment for reporting Acadia’s employment practices to the appropriate federal agency. Acadia also required some of its departing employees to waive their right to file a complaint with any federal government agency.

These provisions created impediments to participation in the SEC’s whistleblower program by requiring employees to forego either their right to file a complaint with the Commission staff or the financial award they might receive for doing so. Through this conduct, Acadia violated SEC Act Rule 21F17(a), which prohibits any person from taking any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation.

These agreements were signed by former employees 56 times between 2019 and 2023.

The Veteran’s Administration announced it was proceeding with its investigation into Acadia for violating laws pertaining to Tricare.

In May 2019, Acadia agreed to pay the federal government $17 million to settle allegations it defrauded Medicaid in West Virginia. The federal government alleged that a subsidiary [CRC Health, L.L.C.] of Acadia which owns seven drug addiction treatment centers in West Virginia, defrauded Medicaid over several years through false claims for laboratory tests related to the opioid epidemic.

Since 2000, Acadia has paid approximately $49,000,000 in fines to federal and state agencies for its egregious conduct.

Other Governmental Investigations

As previously stated, a Senate Committee Report and the New York Times (twice) eviscerated Acadia for its business practices.  On October 3, 2024, Adam Schiff, Senator-elect from the State of California, sent a letter on Congressional letterhead to Acadia demanding answers to eight (8) questions addressing a number of the improprieties.

One of these questions was, “Tim Blair, an Acadia spokesman, has publicly acknowledged that Acadia has deployed employees, referred to as “assessors,” throughout nearby hospital emergency rooms to support hospital staff. What specific services do assessors provide? What education-level and qualifications are required to work as an assessor? What specific training is provided to assessors by Acadia?”

The next day, October 9, 2024, Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice begin an investigation into the facts set forth in the Senate Report.

Private Lawsuits

In 2019, a lawsuit was filed against amongst other defendants, Acadia Healthcare. In that lawsuit, a guardian of an adolescent accused the Acadia companies of failing to protect a young girl under their care. The filing states that an employee of one of Acadia’s subsidiary companies repeatedly raped the child in 2018. The jury awarded the plaintiff $485 million dollars in damages.  Acadia initially stated it would challenge the jury verdict.

Instead, Acadia paid the plaintiff $400 million. $400,000,000.00!

There are at least four (4) lawsuits filed against Acadia and Timberline Knolls and criminal cases pending against Michael Jacksa, a former Timberline Knolls counselor.  Jacksa sexually assaulted at least six (6) patients at Timberline Knolls.

In 2018, Acadia through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ascent Children’s Health Services announced it was closing all ten (10) locations in the State of Arkansas. This closure displaced nearly 1700 children.

The closures were announced after the settlement of a Crittenden County Circuit Court civil lawsuit filed in July 2017 by Ashley Smith, mother of 2-year-old Christopher Gardner. Christopher died June 12, 2017, after being left in a transport van at the West Memphis facility for eight hours. Ascent workers signed documents showing that Christopher was taken inside the West Memphis day care center, even though he remained on the van.

Kendra Washington, Felicia Ann Phillips, Wanda Taylor and Pamela Lavette Robinson, all former Ascent employees were charged with felony manslaughter in Christopher’s death. 

In August of 2024, a civil case was filed alleging that one of Timberline Knolls employees raped a patient in May of this year. A law firm based in Indianapolis represents at least (7) patients who were abused at the hands of Acadia. At least three of these cases are pending in state courts in Indiana and substantiate the allegations made against Acadia.

Now, a former patient of Acadia from Texas has come forth. She alleges the same reprehensible conduct perpetrated by Acadia at other facilities was directed against her. And … I have the honor and privilege of co-counseling with that Indiana law firm to pursue her rights here in Texas.

For those who continue to deal with Acadia (as is your right), for those who continue to accept Acadia’s money, you may wish to review the definition of “dirty money.”

For that money came from patients who were wrongfully held against their will, from patients who were held for the sole purpose of increasing the profit margin of Acadia, from patients who did not receive adequate care or treatment, from patients who were abused and in some cases, sexually assaulted or raped. From patients who died at the hands of employees of Acadia.

And to those organizations which have accepted thousands of dollars from Acadia entities, organizations which have actual knowledge of Acadia’s wrongful conduct, organizations with so called ethics committees but who do nothing … NOTHING … to demand accountability or assess consequences … when you look into a mirror, that death mask reflected back is the visage of your acquiescence, your acceptance and your guilt.