After a multi-year campaign, The New Jersey Organizing Project is celebrating a major victory with two new laws to curb the practice of “body brokering” – a type of healthcare fraud, through which unscrupulous detox and rehabilitation centers take advantage of those struggling with substance abuse disorder by offering financial incentives in exchange for referrals to clients.
The unscrupulous practice of “body brokering” often forces people looking for help through a revolving door of short, ineffective inpatient stays while bad actors rake in profits.
“We argued and implored and pleaded with our New Jersey legislators for two years to amend the existing law, and address some of the ways bad actors were avoiding detection and prosecution,” said Lisa Campanella, NJOP’s senior policy analyst. “Two bills emerged to address these issues, and now, over a year later, those bills have been signed into law.”
The first bill, A3973/S3952, imposes a mandatory $50,000 fine for violations, with penalties of up to five years in prison. It also empowers New Jersey’s Departments of Health and Community Affairs to investigate cases and revoke the licenses of unscrupulous providers.
The second bill, A3974/S3955, also imposes fines of up to $20,000 on providers who use deceptive marketing practices, and allows victims of fraud to sue for damages.
““It is important to protect individuals dealing with addiction,” said New Jersey’s Acting Governor Tahesha Way, as she signed the two new measures into law on August 11. “We must ensure proper treatment without exploitation by holding providers accountable and implementing strong safeguards. Too often, vulnerable people are targeted by those who prioritize profit over care, which is unacceptable.”