Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jul 2002
Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC)
Copyright: 2002 The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Contact:  http://www.goupstate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/977
Author: Tom Langhorne
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

BATTLE OF UPSTATE METHADONE CENTER HEADS TO COURT

Feuding Healthcare Providers Are Waging Legal Warfare Over Whether 
Spartanburg Should Be Home To A Methadone Treatment Center For Heroin 
Addicts And Other Opiate-based Drug Users

Feuding healthcare providers are waging legal warfare over whether 
Spartanburg should be home to a methadone treatment center for heroin 
addicts and other opiate-based drug users.

Simpsonville resident Brent Brady, who runs privately funded outpatient 
narcotic treatment programs in Charlotte and Salisbury, N.C., received 
approval from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control on 
Dec. 13 to open Spartanburg Treatment Associates at 930 S. Pine St.

But just six days later, lawyers representing the operators of treatment 
centers in Greenville and York counties blocked the opening of Brady's 
facility by filing a request for a contested case hearing before the 
Administrative Law Judge Division, an independent quasi-judicial agency 
within the executive branch of the state government.

Now ALJD, which hears the contested cases of state agencies, is ready to 
act on the case pitting Orlando, Fla.-based Colonial Management Group 
against Spartanburg Treatment Associates and DHEC. ALJD has set aside three 
days - July 16-18 - for Judge John D. Geathers to hear the case in Columbia.

At issue are the questions of whether there is a demonstrated need for a 
methadone treatment facility in Spartanburg and whether Colonial 
Management's facilities in Greenville and York counties would be harmed 
financially by the competition.

Methadone, a legally prescribed synthetic drug, is used to treat people 
addicted to opiates like heroin, morphine and prescription pain killers. 
Colonial Management operates Greenville Metro Treatment Center and the York 
County Treatment Center. Piedmont Treatment Center, which has no connection 
to Colonial Management, operates in Greenville as well. All of the 
facilities are privately run. South Carolina's only publicly-funded 
methadone treatment center is located in Charleston.

Colonial Management's attorney, Matt Utecht of Greenville, argues that 
state law offers protection from competition to healthcare providers who 
are providing services in an area where there is a demonstrated need.

As of September 2001, Utecht said, 82 of Greenville Metro Treatment 
Center's 239 patients, or 34 percent, were from Spartanburg and surrounding 
areas.

"The law requires healthcare providers to apply to DHEC for Certificates of 
Need to avoid unnecessary duplication of services that could result in 
patients losing services," he said. "If a treatment center opens in 
Spartanburg and the two existing facilities in Greenville lose a 
significant number of their patients as a result, they're going to be 
negatively impacted economically and will not have the financial ability to 
maintain services for those patients who remain."

Utecht said the law is designed, among other things, to contain the costs 
of services and to "protect healthcare providers who are serving the 
legitimate needs of the community from going under."

"We're not selling widgets here; we're selling healthcare services," he 
said. "While there is a place for competition in the marketplace, the 
Legislature has recognized the need to protect healthcare providers."

Utecht also said Spartanburg Treatment Associates has failed to demonstrate 
that Colonial Management's two facilities aren't sufficient to meet the 
demand for services from those in Spartanburg who need them. But Brady, 
whose proposed new facility beat out Piedmont Treatment Center to receive 
DHEC's Certificate of Need, said many addicts in the Spartanburg area do 
not seek methadone treatment at Greenville Metro or Piedmont Treatment 
Center because they don't have time to drive to and from Greenville every 
day or don't have transportation.

Many such individuals end up deciding it is easier to simply deal with 
their drug habits than to seek transportation or make the bothersome trip, 
Brady said.

"These people get no treatment whatsoever," he said. "But with a treatment 
center in Spartanburg, people can get on the bus line. Treatment would be 
accessible for them."

Brady cited reports that DHEC estimates nearly 600 persons are seeking 
treatment at Greenville's two methadone treatment centers, and he estimated 
there are many more in Spartanburg who need treatment but who don't seek it.

David Forrester, executive director of the Spartanburg County Alcohol and 
Drug Abuse Commission, said he has heard reports that more than 100 people 
here are making the daily drive to Greenville for methadone treatment. 
Larry Worley, Piedmont Treatment Center director, has put the number at 125.

Brady finds vindication in those estimates.

"We're not state-funded, and we get no outside funding," he said. "Our 
funding comes from patients' fees. If we don't have enough patients, we're 
not going to stay open.

"So yeah, we think there's a definite need in Spartanburg County, or we 
wouldn't be doing this."
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