PLEASE READ BEFORE CONSIDERING SENDING…
PLEASE READ BEFORE CONSIDERING SENDING A LOVED ONE HERE!!!! This experience started after what was a very traumatizing year for our family. My daughter had been suicidal and unsafe for 6 months, in and out of hospitals. Residential was, as it is for so many families, a very hard, and in the end, necessary decision to make. I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner by profession and so am very familiar with the workings of psychiatric care and programs.
First off to give you the background I found this place as an "out of network provider" with my insurance. I spoke to the admissions counselor, named Hector, who assured me repeatedly that my total out of pocket cost would be $5000., after which my insurance would be responsible. This seemed like a very comfortable price for what it was so I did ask many times to be sure and each time he assured me this was the case. They told me it would be no problem for my daughter to bring her service dog then called the next day to say she could not. I informed them it was illegal to not allow a service dog so they called me back and said she could indeed bring the dog.
She arrived and the house is immaculate and beautiful as the pictures suggest. Most of the staff was standoffish with one exception, a girl who was sweet and welcoming. We went to the office to again discuss the business details and there they asked me for $6000, this was to be again, my "total contribution" after which insurance was to cover the rest (beware I had also gotten the same message from my insurance when I had called to verify this as being the case.) Mona (not sure of her exact job title) assured me again this was the only charge I would have from them.
She was babysat only for the first 2 days with no programming while the other teens went out to do their programming. There was one psychiatrist evaluation and one group family session which I participated in. The clinical director has the child and family either in the room or on the phone. She talked to me for 5 min and then muted me. I was appalled at what came out of her mouth! For no stated reason she removed my daughter's service dog when she most needed her from the room. She proceeded to call some of the kids names (swear words)! I understand tough love but I do not believe in calling kids names as ever being remotely therapeutic! My daughter was so shaken at the end of this and there was no circling back to her when she was in tears to check-in and close the session which is standard practice in group therapy. Three days after her arrival they called me to say that it was "not going to work out for her to keep her service dog" there and that I needed to fly out to California to pick up the dog. Obviously, they both left. The dog had been adjusting and had a couple of accidents in the house was the reason they cited for having the dog leave and a staff person with allergies.
I called to be reimbursed whatever money I had left off that would not have been used by her 3 day stay. No one returned my call. I called another number no one returned my call. A month went by of this and so I texted the number I had been given saying that I was upset and that I was going to end up writing up a full review of her stay there. Guess what? I got a callback. I was told it would be handled. That was 3 weeks ago now and I have only been allowed now to speak with an admissions counselor (Hector) the only one who will return my calls. He has informed me that I am not allowed to have the number for billing, "they will call you." I tell him that it has been 7 weeks and I have been requesting this with no results. I have received $4000 in checks from my insurance company to sign over to pay them. The documents state that they "negotiated" a daily rate of $735. I send them overnight mail and call Hector to explain that I would like this handled ASAP. He calls me back and tells me that my $6000 I paid them they do not have and that they send that money to my insurance company. I have spoken to Regence who was very clear that they would never take money from a treatment center and that this is certainly not true, that they keep that money. Then the insurance company absolutely blows my mind. When I am talking to them about the charges ( my assumption is $735 a day for 3 days) either the insurance or myself have significantly overpaid). Guess what they charged daily? $7000 a day!!!!!!! My insurance says, "They are private, they can petty much charge whatever they like." I want you to keep in mind this $7000 was for babysitting my 16-year-old daughter, who was, I'll give you high risk but consider $7000. No medical treatments required only supervision. The insurance company then says that they attempted to charge twice because she was billed as "dual diagnosis," so, my daughter who has barely touched any drugs (marijuana) was a way for them to supposedly justify a $14,000 a day treatment!!!!! I have still, of course, heard nothing from billing but I have seen now in writing what they are charging daily. If they send me a bill for this I am going to obviously be getting a lawyer. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM FOR MONEY NOT A TREATMENT CENTER! THEY ARE RIPPING OFF VULNERABLE FAMILIES WHO NEED HELP!
The happiest ending and it is a very happy one! Is that I took everything out of my retirement fund and sent her to a wilderness therapy program that does not accept insurance and a group of absolutely delightful and dedicated people who took such good care of her and really helped her learn and grow! She came back this week and is a MUCH HAPPIER AND MORE CONFIDENT YOUNG WOMAN!!! I could be happier with what New Visions provided in every way. There was not dishonesty and they were as flexible as they could be around payments. This is how a program should be run, with heart. If you have a kiddo who is needing care, you know how scary this is and you have been through too much to be lied to and cheated out of your money. I am not saying send your kids to wilderness therapy, I am sure it is not the choice for all kids, but don't send them to Beachside Teen a company whose past slate seems to have mysteriously wiped and I am not sure why. It is suspicious that they seem to have been able to avoid any reviews so far under this name.
I will update this review once I have heard back from someone in billing or from the administration.