Bill to Improve Addiction Recovery Treatment Clears Crucial Hurdle

SB 999 authored by Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), titled the California Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Patient Safety and Fairness Act, passed through the State Assembly today after passing the State Senate earlier this year. After going back to the State Senate “on concurrence,” the bill will head to the Governor’s desk. SB 999 will advance the way California deals with addiction recovery.

“There is clear evidence that SB 999 will save lives. Insurance companies arbitrarily denying critical mental health and addiction recovery services to those in need is a practice that we must end once and for all,” says Senator Cortese. “We can ensure Californians suffering from mental health and substance use disorders have fair access to a full and lasting recovery.”

SB 999 will help Californians suffering from substance use disorders and addiction receive treatment that is consistent with criteria developed by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), safeguard patient access to timely review decisions, and prohibit incentive-based treatment decisions. 

Supporters of SB 999 include Summit Estate Recovery Center (Sponsor), the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (Cosponsor), Hansei Solutions (representing 50 California treatment centers), Billing Solutions (representing 8 California treatment centers), Davis Health Management Group and PCI Centers.

“This law will solve a problem that has been going on for at least a decade -- insurance companies hiring unqualified doctors to deny vital mental health and substance abuse treatment to patients in order to escape paying for lifesaving days of treatment,” said Summit Estate Recovery Center Executive Director Joan Borsten. 

 “Eight years ago, the CBS-TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes” did an expose that showed Anthem was then paying $25,000/month to a psychiatrist to deny 92% of the cases sent to him. The problem became acute for our treatment center, which is based in Silicon Valley, in March 2020 when Santa Clara County ordered residents to shelter in place.  A psychiatrist who does not practice addiction medicine denied needed additional days of treatment to a patient who could still not put two words together. He was told to go home and attend outpatient meetings three hours a day, three times a week.  It was a prescription for immediate relapse.”

Denials by unqualified doctors are happening daily up and down the state of California, even though on January 1, 2021, Senate Bill 855 became law, requiring doctors to treat addiction patients based on the criteria of the Addiction Society of American Medicine. The denials by unqualified doctors continued unabated.

According to Summit Estate Recovery Center CEO Sergei Vidov: “Summit invited our State Senator Dave Cortese to visit the inpatient facility and presented to him the problem.  He agreed to sponsor the legislation.  To document the need for this law, from November 2021 Summit and fifty-eight other California treatment centers have kept score. The results clearly show that dozens of unqualified doctors have denied treatment required by addiction criteria, many as much as 100% of the time.   We congratulate Senator Cortese on successfully carrying the legislation that will bring an end to these bad practices.”