Private equity in behavioral health is no longer flying under the radar. The DOJ, FTC, HHS-OIG, and state AGs in California, Massachusetts, and New York are reshaping what diligence, governance, and operations have to look like post-close.
When Aurora Mental Health and Recovery cut staff in response to Colorado Medicaid and grant pressure, it surfaced a problem facing CMHCs nationally. Sariah Hopkins breaks down what operators should be modeling now, before reactive cuts force decisions that damage clinical capacity.
The Sabra-Landmark unwind is a case study every PE-backed behavioral health operator should read before signing a long-term lease. AHS unpacks the licensure timing, feasibility, and pro forma failures that turn real estate partnerships into operational sinkholes.
DOJ’s newly resourced National Fraud Enforcement Division puts behavioral health operators back in the crosshairs. Sariah Hopkins translates the announcement into concrete actions for CEOs and compliance leads: medical necessity tightening, UR rebuilds, billing audits, and pre-close diligence that holds up under federal scrutiny.
Behavioral health M&A is no longer a quiet corner of healthcare deal flow. DOJ, HHS-OIG, and state AGs are reading deal documents. Here is what operators and sponsors should expect on diligence, integration, and post-close enforcement risk.
The Horizon Behavioral Health data breach is another reminder that HHS OCR and state AGs are not grading on a curve. Here is what behavioral health operators should pull from the incident, and what we are telling AHS clients to fix this quarter.
Single case agreements with United Behavioral Health are not a billing trick. They are a clinical-financial negotiation with real regulatory exposure. Here is how operators should approach SCAs given recent federal scrutiny, parity enforcement, and the OptumRx and UBH litigation history.
A behavioral health advisory board is not a board of directors. It is the operator-level early warning system that catches regulatory drift, billing risk, and marketing arrangements before the DOJ, OIG, or state surveyors do.
CMS published its Behavioral Health Strategy and operators keep treating it like a press release. It is not. It is the framework CMS, OIG, and state Medicaid agencies are already using to shape audits, rate decisions, and enforcement priorities. Here is what to do about it.
ASAM level of care decisions are no longer a clinical footnote. They are the single most scrutinized data point in behavioral health, and CMS, DOJ, and state Medicaid SIUs are reading your charts more carefully than you are.
