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Deputies padlock treatment center for bad debt
Friday, April 11, 2008
RIVERSIDE — Sheriff's deputies on Friday padlocked a local mental health services company over a bad debt with a pharmaceutical distribution company.
Jeff Kolaczkowski, owner of Advanced Therapeutic Services Inc., said Friday, April 11, he has other office space to treat his roughly 7,000 patients at 1320 Woodman Drive, but the lawsuit filed by San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. could ultimately kill his business of seven years.
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"They only locked the top suites, so we'll be able to continue services for our patients for at least the short term in our suites downstairs," Kolaczkowski said. "But if McKesson goes through with this and seizes assets, we'll be sitting on boxes trying to provide services."
At issue is a $13,500 debt owed to McKesson for an injectable anti-psychotic drug used by four or five patients at Advanced, according to court records and Kolaczkowski.
Kolaczkowski said he entered into a payment arrangement two years ago with McKesson that he now regrets: He'd buy the drug, called Risperdal Consta, give it to his patients and then seek reimbursement from the patients' insurance plans.
He said he had reimbursement troubles with Medicaid and Medicare and, at $212 per vial, it was hard to keep up with payments to McKesson. He said he didn't stop ordering the drug, though, because it helped the patients.
"This is the first time we've ever had a medication we've had to pay for and get reimbursed for and it really bit us," he said, adding his company employes 70, including nine psychiatrists and 35 mental health counselors.
McKesson lawyer Mark J. Sheriff of Columbus said the company is willing to work with Advanced to resolve the debt.
"The goal is to collect the money," Sheriff said. "Nobody wants to put somebody out of business but it depends on what their ability to pay is."
