PALM SPRINGS, Fla. — The crisis at Retreat Behavioral Health in Palm Springs is raising additional questions, and we're working to get answers.
Monday, WPTV Chief Investigative Reporter Jamie Ostroff and Reporter Ethan Stein exposed dozens of employees waiting for paychecks from Retreat Behavioral Health in Palm Springs, which closed its doors until further notice, according to internal emails WPTV received on Monday.
Those emails also show the mental health facility is discharging patients and unable to make payroll from the last pay period after its founder, Peter Schorr, passed away Friday. The sudden closure is leaving employees without income.
The allegations aren't ones Dr. Jay Reeve often hears.
“This is pretty rare," said Reeve.
Reeve is the chair of Florida's Commission on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder, a 19-person panel that Florida lawmakers created to help reform the state's behavioral health services.
While Reeve said he doesn't see this happen often, he wasn't completely surprised.
“The financial margins of behavioral healthcare have always been very low. This is not an industry that makes a ton of money, it never has been," said Reeve.
Late last year, Behavioral Health Business releaseda reportwarning to "expect more distressed behavioral health assets in 2024," citing a rapid rise in interest expenses, increases in costs of benefits and aggressive wage inflation.
The report came after the Fort Lauderdale-based Delphi Behavioral Health Group filed for bankruptcy and shuttered all its Florida facilities.
This January, the commission's report shows Florida allocated nearly $2 billion to behavioral health facilities to help provide care for more than 1.6 million patients.
To be clear, we don't know why Retreat Behavioral Health stopped paying employees and treating patients, but patients and employees said they've been left hanging.
"What happens to the people who were there receiving treatment?” WPTV's Kate Hussey asked Reeve.
"That's an excellent question," said Reeve.
Reeve said the Florida Department of Children and Families has seven "managing entities" which oversee Florida's Behavioral Healthcare system and can help relocate folks displaced by the closure.
Reeve said patients should reach out to their local DCF office. Employment attorney Marcia Narine Weldon said Retreat Behavioral's workers should lawyer up and that employees might not have to pay upfront.
“Keep in mind, a lot of lawyers are going to take it on contingency, and a lot of these statutes allow for the payment of attorneys fees," said Narine Weldon.
The key takeaway:
“Folks should always have plans when they get discharged," said Reeve. "If there is an organization the community has been leaning on for services, they kind of need to communicate partners about what’s happening financially."
WPTV also reached out to DCF to see if they are investigating the facility. A spokesperson told Hussey they are working on getting us a response.
