false claims lawsuit that was from 2021, in which he's, as we go through the complaint,
we'll see the references to various practices that Mr. Devaney contributed to that were part
of the false claims. There was billing, false billing, that was basically defrauding Medicare
out of significance of money.
Money was a $15 million settlement
that was reached in that case.
So we have the complaint.
Is he asking a question?
This is what he's going through the exhibits, right?
I thought this was cross.
If he's asking a question, let him ask a question.
Right.
I think that's fair.
If you have something you want to ask,
if you have something you want to ask them,
please ask them.
and if you use that as a backup that's so uh mr devaney um in paragraph 115 of the complaint it
states on june 11th 2018 uh this has to do with miss spruel um on the same day she emailed you
expressing frustration over being forced into a position and being demoted to a therapist
do you recall um do you recall um this this email and and and these these allegations that the
government made against objection it's beyond direct objection it's not how to be on direct
he said that he is a qualified person and we're now seeing that he's involved
listen listen to me listen to me you gotta stop number one this was a lawsuit am i correct steve
this was a prosecution by the department of justice and by the state of delaware but but not
not criminally individuals criminally this was the institution they were suing right no no they
also named various um they named people but what i'm saying it wasn't a criminal charge am i right
no this was civil and it was settled by the department of justice as a that's what i'm
saying it's all civil okay right you can ask him a question about something you see in there
but move on with that please okay mr mr devaney you see the in the green the green highlighted
areas where your name is is um is indicated as being part of the of the of the activities that
happened around this lawsuit is that correct i do okay and are you aware that you that that
organize that your organization had to enter into a settlement uh and pay 15 million dollars to the
department of justice i actually did not know that they entered into a settlement okay you're aware
that you were part of that that you were listed in the complaint is that true what's i'm i mean
my name is throughout is in that document but i was not individually named in any complaint
right in in paragraph 188 it says that you repeatedly pressured the employees to meet
their billing targets and demanded detail plans how they were going to meet their targets
in 190 it says that you gave the act one team in newark until the end of the day to add your
June hours, the team was instructed to go back
into Lynx and their schedules to review
their June hours and add what they may have missed.
Mr. Chairman, again,
right? These statements
that he's saying in a
complaint...
Does he want to respond to what you just read?
I mean, instead of just going over...
All right, Mr. Devaney,
do you have a response to
these actions
being listed in the
complaint for
the false claims,
the fraudulent billing of Medicare and Medicaid payments.
give me a delaney i'm here i'm thinking about how to respond to this okay sure sure um excuse me
can i sorry can i interject um mr masters was i know this was civil litigation but was mr delaney
individually named or part of the settlement that that came out of these complaints he his mother
was and two other principals were um mr mr devaney was he so so here's here's the relevance um members
of the board mr devaney is saying that he is a good manager he's going to take this program which
doesn't exist at all and he's going to make he's going to build it into a great a great program
um in his past it's very important to to note that he was part of a corrupt organization that
defrauded medicare and medicaid of millions and millions of dollars he then was part of the
organization that engaged in right okay um so the the crux of the matter is he worked at a place
that the justice department sued right sued for civil litigation that they were doing some things
wrong whether it was billing drugs or whatever and the that institution then settled not him
but the institution right but it's it's more your mr chair it's more than he worked at a place
he was the coo he was the number i understand i understand i understand yeah yeah so so now he
now he's the general manager of of um let's let we'll move on to to um to american treatment
centers mr uh mr devaney um isn't it true that american treatment centers is operates a hundred
percent uh outpatient facilities there's no residential treatment that you provide
well first it's american treatment network so i i don't want the anyone to be mistaken by the name
okay okay thank you uh yes right now what we do is outpatient services you have no residential
facilities not at the time have you ever had residential facilities not at american treatment
network no sir right okay so you also um in the last hearing there was testimony that there's a
contract between american treatment network and this new uh entity that you now are going to be
the the director of apparently to can you describe what the terms of that contract are objection
what's the objection this goes into the financial interest that he's testifying exactly that he's
making money on this transaction and this is a zoning hearing not a financial uh uh uh witch hunt
so mr chairman mr masters have constantly taken a position that this that this application
isn't financially viable that is that that is so un-american because as you sit here
that is not for the board to decide if we mr harrow the question i asked wasn't about whether
is viable we we i wasn't you just he just used the words of financial interest i want to know
i want to know what his financial interests are in the exactly you just used the words again
he you're still mr devaney you're still going to be with american treatment network is that correct
that's correct right so what is the contract what is the amount of money
that American Treatment Network
is receiving an industry entity.
There is a contract.
That's what has been testified.
That's what's been placed there.
It's apparent he has a contract, Steve.
He still works for the other company.
He's going to go here,
the way I understand it,
and be the interim head
to get this place open.
Mr. Devaney,
will you still also be employed
by American Treatment Network
at the same time
that you're at this new facility?
the the agreement is between uh american treatment network and and the company that
owns this property i'm uh so my role this will be part of my role in my function and duty at
american treatment network right so you are you are the general manager of american treatment
network and this facility is going to be somehow related to your operations is that is that what
you're saying to help get it open and started okay so you're kind of incubating it or or cure
incubating it or or cure or or basically helping to to launch it it he asked he already answered
or or basically helping to
that okay he's the interim head he'll be the interim head so you're so there is a financial
you confirm there is a financial relationship and you are benefiting financially from already
relationship with with the american treatment network he has it chris steve he has a he has a
contract. All right. Does American Treatment Network currently have any contracts for Medicaid
funding from CBH? Yes. Objection, because this is beyond the scope of direct. The American
Treatment Network isn't filing for an application. The only extent that the question should be is
that, is there a relationship between American Treatment Network? And that's it. But to start
peeling back, I'm not finished my objection, but to start peeling back as to whether American
Treatment Network can work, does have the ability to be financial, that's beyond the scope of
free direct steve mr devaney said to us that he is confident that he can build up this new facility
and he works with cbh and he understands how medicaid funding works obviously he was involved
with the medicaid fraud in the past but now he says that he knows how it works uh correctly and
steve steve listen he said you can ask them about cbh and that so ask the question that you want
Right. All right. Mr. Devaney, you you're saying that that you have a contract with CBH for outpatient services with Medicaid. Is that correct?
That's correct.
Do you have any contracts with with CBH for inpatient for for residential treatment of with Medicaid?
No, sir.
Do you do you agree that there are different standards and different and different levels of regulation that have to do with Medicaid funding for residential versus outpatient?
Yes. Okay. So you don't have any direct experience with Medicaid funding for residential
in Pennsylvania. Is that correct? That's correct. All of the residential that you did was way back
in the past and it was in Delaware or in Maryland. Is that correct? That's correct.
Okay. So you now want to take over a facility that's a residential facility in Pennsylvania,
but you've never had any experience with residential treatment in Pennsylvania up till now.
That's correct, right?
In Pennsylvania, yes, that's correct.
And you agree that the regulations and the rules in Pennsylvania are different than Delaware and Maryland?
Yeah, I mean, yes.
Yes, I mean, ASAM is not used in Pennsylvania, for example, whereas in Delaware it was.
for licensing
do you do you know that i i know that ddap is adopting and has put out a literature
about comparing their current levels of care with 3.1 and 3.5 but but pennsylvania doesn't use the
asam um he just not in their not in their licensure standards that's correct right they don't so you're
now going into a jurisdiction that you've never
worked in before in terms of residential
and you're acknowledging that this
is the first that you're going to be doing this?
In Pennsylvania,
yes, sir. Okay.
Do you, have you spoken
to CBH about
how to get a contract for Medicaid
funding for people coming
to this residential facility?
Objection. Asking about
financial issues?
I guess the question is, he's asking, did you do this because that's the way, are you going to try to run the place like that?
Are you bringing people? He hasn't said anything about financial.
I just said, he said, did you talk to CBH about how you could get people in here? That's all.
Right. I thought he said, excuse me, I thought he said, did you talk to CBH about contracting with them to get Medicaid?
CBH is only about Medicaid funding. That's all they do. Yeah. Yeah. And I heard the word
contracted. Uh-huh. So, Mr. Devaney, have you spoken to CBH about sourcing people to come into
your program on Moore Street? No, that would be premature. Okay. Do you understand that CBH has
Okay. Do you understand that CVH has no active RFPs out looking for new partners with residential treatment?
no active RFPs out looking
Objection.
I don't understand the relevance.
You don't understand the relevance?
Yeah, watch your mouth, Steve.
Well, the relevance is that he wants to run a program and he needs people in order to treat.
all right so so mr devaney where if you don't get if you don't get um clients from cbh do you
have a plan today that that that is is um is showing where your clients are going to come
from objection that's speculation i don't think that's appropriate well you don't think it's
appropriate for him to have a plan as to how he's going to to know what i don't think is appropriate
is saying that, hey, if you don't get a contract,
nobody can predict the future.
Neither can you, Steve.
All right, Steve, either move on or either.
Mr. Devaney, in terms of your thinking right now
as the interim director,
where are the clients going to come from for this program,
this residential treatment program?
I mean, I think I answered that earlier.
Are they coming from American Treatment Network?
No, I didn't say that.
So will you summarize where you think that the clients are coming from?
They're going to come from...
They're going to step down out of inpatient treatment units.
They're going to come from emergency rooms.
They're going to come from the community.
Okay. So you did talk about places where you were going to attempt to relate, to connect with different providers to see if you could encourage them to send people to your program.
um the the the demographics of the people in your program are they the same people
who would are they choosing between your residential facility and the betty ford center
or other other high-end programs that are available in devon for example
no i don't know what you mean by that yeah and i think i want to object because i think he
answered the question saying he will go go and seek out um but then i think you're asking
i'm asking whether these people have private insurance or whether they don't have private
insurance and are and are you are you do you have a strategy i don't understand the relevance of
that right and my objection still stands because it gets into a financial issue i i agree steve
try to move on from this okay um all right we'll we'll have we'll have our expert um address it
then um um mr devaney you testified that there's going to be up to 30 staff required at this
facility yes i said there were going to be 30 staff needed to operate the facility right