With so many rehab centers available nationwide and more springing up daily, it’s only right to expect that there will be some hacks among them. Although it’s not a common occurrence, sometimes, people fall into the hands of these scam centers and end up losing a lot.
People are often in a hurry when looking for a rehab center and will sometimes miss obvious red flags. Here are the red flags to avoid when choosing a rehab center:
- Lack of accreditation
While accreditation isn’t mandatory for a rehab center to run, it’s necessary. Reputable rehabs in the US will have received accreditation from The Joint Commission or The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. Typically, you can find the seal of accreditation on their official websites. Accreditation holds a rehab center to a higher standard of service than non-accredited facilities.
- Outrageous promises
Scam rehabs often make promises that can’t be kept like the certainty of wellness. Some will even go as far as telling you that you’ll be cured in a certain amount of days. The truth is that even the best of recovery programs can’t assure you 100% that they will work for you. Recovery, on the other hand, is a lifelong journey that will require commitment on the part of the addict. What you should be on the lookout for is a facility with an active program and a transparent offering.
- They are reluctant to offer information.
When researching a rehab center, some of the critical things to look out for are the number of relevant medical professionals they have, qualification of their staff, the ratio of nurses to patients, and schedule.
If the rehab center you’re considering appears reluctant to give you any of the above information, it’s an obvious red flag that they are hiding something from you. Most likely, it’s their incompetence.
Most of them will try to make you focus on the promise of recovery rather than the facts of what they have. Make sure to ask questions about their treatment packages, too. What evidence-based therapies do they offer? Do they let patients try Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)? Do they offer psychiatric services?
- They offer ‘free travel.’
Reputable rehab centers rarely offer free travel packages to patients, especially cross-country travels. Most promises of free travel are made by marketers and brokers who get kickbacks from every admission they get. They either promise the flights will be free or covered by your insurance.
While there are apparent potential dangers to this, it may also end up being very costly in the end. For one, your personal insurance doesn’t cover flights.
- They use brokers and marketers.
While there’s nothing wrong with trying to run a better and more profitable business, the use of marketers and brokers by rehab facilities reeks of them putting money before their customers. Most facilities that use them are only out to steal patients from other facilities. You’ll rarely find a reputable facility that makes use of them.