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Alex Smick and his girlfriend, Tarra. (Photo courtesy of Smick family)Tim Smick, looks down on aphoto of his late son, Alex,during a rally calling on the

Medical Board of California tocrack down on doctors whoseoverprescribing of medications

has led to death or seriousinjuries, at the Capitol in

Sacramento, Calif., Monday,March 11, 2013. (AP

Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

1218_nws_ocr-l-rehab-actors-01

How a multimillion-dollar empire built around urine drug tests exposesflaws in California’s rehab laws ocregister.com

12 CommentsBy | and | | Orange County RegisterPUBLISHED: December 17, 2017 at 5:45 am |UPDATED: December 18, 2017 at 4:02 pm

Part of our ongoing investigation into the Southern.California rehab industry

Who is the doctor?

Tammy Smick lost her 20-year-old son, Alex, nearlysix years ago, after he was admitted to an OrangeCounty treatment program. The coroner’s officeconcluded he died of acute intoxication from the

combined effects of several drugs. State records show the drugs were ordered during Alex Smick’streatment.

Four years later,following an inquiry,investigatorsrecommended thatthe state medicalboard discipline thedoctor who orderedthe drugs, DanielHeadrick. Theformal accusationfiled by the stateattorney general’soffice alleges

Headrick engaged in “repeated negligent acts” in connection with themedications he ordered for Alex Smick.

Records also show a nurse was cited and fined $1,000 by a separate stateagency because he was late in logging in Smick’s medication records,posting the information a half-hour after he was found dead.

Headrick deniesthe state’sallegationsinvolving him,said his attorney,RaymondMcMahon. Thecare Headrickprovided was

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Page 2 of 4 Dec 19, 2017 09:53:35AM MST

Tammy Smick, center, flanked by her husband, Tim left, and son, Chris,called on the Medical Board of California to crack down on doctors

whose overprescribing of medications has led to death or serious injuriesduring a rally at the Capitol in Sacramento in 2013. (AP Photo/Rich

Pedroncelli)

Tammy Smick of Downey, looks at photos of her son, Alex, whodied from a lethal combination of medications while being

treated at a Laguna Beach treatment center in 2012. (Photo byNick Agro, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Alex Smick shows off a tattoo. It’s alikeness of his grandfather, left, and his

grandmother. (File photo BILLALKOFER, ORANGE COUNTY

REGISTER/SCNG)

care Headrickprovided wasproper, McMahonadded, and anyissues involvingAlex Smick’streatment “relates tonursing care, notphysician care.”

State officialsdeclined tocomment on theprogress ofHeadrick’s case.Tammy Smick

said the attorney general’s office and the Medical Board recently toldher they have agreed to settle the case, without providing details. Potential penalties range fromsuspension or revocation of Headrick’s license to probation or a public reprimand, according to theaccusation.

After their son’s death, the Smicks settled a malpractice lawsuit against Headrick, the terms of whichweren’t disclosed.

Tammy Smick, a Downey teacher, threw herselfinto activism after her son’s death, retelling hisstory and focusing on issues such asoverprescription of opioids and California’s capon medical malpractice payouts, which sheargues undercuts doctor accountability.

“Our goal is bringing awareness to medicalmalpractice (in) the opioid industry and detoxcenters,” she said.

Since Alex Smick’s death, Headrick has openeda drug treatment center, Tres Vistas Recovery inSan Juan Capistrano, where he is listed as ownerand medical director.

Addicts or their families considering using that rehab can learn about the state allegations involvingHeadrick, but only if they know where to look. In October 2016, were posteddetails of the Headrick caseon the Medical Board of California website.

Tammy Smick believes it’s not enough. She says people considering rehab wouldn’t necessarily know toturn to the Medical Board website. She believes there should be an easier, centralized way to get officialdisciplinary records on rehabs, their operators and key staff.

State health officials say even when a doctor’s license is revoked, he or she can still operate a treatmentcenter and profit from it, though they could not provide medical care to patients.

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California lags other states

Smick is not the first to raise the issue of transparency. A state Senate report in 2012 found a host ofoversight problems in the recovery industry, including poor monitoring of rehab centers and inadequateinformation sharing related to treatment center operators.

Other state officials have pointed to financial abuses in the industry that authorities say bleed millions frompublic and private pockets. Part of the concern is tied to so-called “junkie hunters,” people who recruitaddicts from around the country and bring them to rehab centers in California in return for kickbacks.

One area of the rehab industry – sober living homes – has virtually no oversight.

The homes, where addicts often live for a few months after leaving formal rehab, aren’t required to submitany records of their operations. This is true, in part, because operators aren’t claiming to provide medicaltreatment and the people living in them, recovering addicts, are protected under the Americans withDisabilities Act.

The state’s findings from 2012, and a follow-up report in 2013, have sparked debate about how to regulatethe industry. But that debate hasn’t prompted big change, and critics complain that California – which hasabout 1,800 licensed rehab centers, including more than 1,100 in Southern California – is falling behindother big states in vetting and licensing rehab centers.

“The big issue is, what do the licensure laws look like?” said Michael Cartwright, CEO of AmericanAddiction Centers, one of the nation’s largest for-profit treatment chains. “Are they standard? Do theyfollow good guidelines other states follow? No, they do not.

“Time and time again, the problems get worse and worse,” Cartwright added. “Progressive states likeMassachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey … are making serious progress.”

Some of the biggest changes are taking place in Florida.

Like California, Florida has become a hotbed of out-of-state addict recruitment and scandals related towidespread fraud and dangerous patient care. In June, Gov. Rick Scott signed a package of reformsaimed at cleaning up the industry.

The new regulations call for background screenings for all owners, directors and clinical supervisors ofsober homes. They clarify laws to make kickbacks illegal and empower state regulators to makeunannounced visits to sober homes. They also allow state prosecutors to use racketeering laws to crackdown on patient brokering and fraud networks in the industry.

In addition, licensed treatment centers in Florida have been prohibited from referring addicts to sober livinghomes that have not met the standards of a voluntary, third-party certification process.

Other states are taking actions as well.

In Pennsylvania, as part of the state’s response to the opioid crisis, lawmakers authorized funding for 45“Centers for Excellence,” treatment facilities that combine medical, behavioral and job training services for11,000 addicts. And the governor is pushing for the state to begin regulation of sober living homes.

Staff writers Jordan Graham and Teri Sforza contributed to this article.