Webinar: How the Opioid Crisis and the SUPPORT Act Created a New Enforcement Reality
- Date Recorded: February 7, 2019
- Length: about an hour
- Presenter: Richard W. Westling and Katherine Bowles
- CE: NOT eligible for CE
- Price: $0.00
There is a confluence of national and local public policy developments regarding mental health, substance use disorders, and treatment. The federal government, working in partnership with states, addresses behavioral health issues and establishes and enforces minimum standards. States, however, have significant power in making decisions—mental health regulations and available services can look very different from state to state, and even from county to county.
This was part of a partnership between Behavioral Health Association of Providers, Epstein Becker Green, and Nelson Hardiman: offering a winter / spring webinar series that addressed topics highlighting the accelerating legal and policy issues for the behavioral health industry.
During 2018, the Department of Justice dedicated additional enforcement resources to address the opioid crisis. By adding criminal penalties targeted at kickbacks in the SUD provider space, the SUPPORT Act significantly enhanced the many tools already available to the DOJ. These efforts will also likely further embolden private payor review activities.
This webinar addresses the questions that many providers have about these efforts and developments, including:
- marketing and referral practices that must be avoided;
- the evolution of enforcement activities and regional prescription opioid task forces, and what they could mean for providers; and
- why the future of enforcement will likely be far more robust and what steps SUD providers should take to prepare.
Presenters
Richard W. Westling
Richard W. Westling is in the Health Care & Life Sciences and Litigation department of Epstein Becker Green.
A health care compliance and government enforcement defense lawyer, Richard regularly interacts with various health care regulatory agencies. Clients call upon him when facing complex compliance challenges, government investigations, high-profile enforcement actions, or the prospect of severe criminal, civil, or administrative sanctions.
Katherine Bowles
Katherine Bowles draws on her experience as a Registered Nurse in her work as an attorney for Nelson Hardiman.
Entrenched in the healthcare field, Kate has developed relationships with treating providers and experts, resulting in excellent deposition and trial testimony. Her experience encompasses trial preparation, mediation and settlement of disputes, evaluation and selection of healthcare experts, and managing discovery.
Webinar: How the Opioid Crisis and the SUPPORT Act Created a New Enforcement Reality
Note: this webinar series was hosted by Epstein Becker Green. The webinar / slides are available on their site, linked above.
A national membership association that provides education and advocacy for those in the behavioral health and addiction treatment industries.
We are the leading and unifying voice of addiction-focused treatment programs.
