Nashville, Tennessee-based Landmark Recovery will be allowed to operate addiction treatment facilities in Indiana again after reaching a settlement agreement with state regulators.
The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) revoked licenses at three of the company’s four facilities — in the cities of Mishawaka, Carmel and Bluffton — after patients died and reports of frequent police response to those facilities, among other issues, became public in the summer of 2023.
However, the agreement spells out several conditions requiring Landmark Recovery to demonstrate adequate staffing and high-levels of compliance before applying for new facility certifications. Further, the agreement requires the company to give up its appeals to reopen its three closed facilities; it must apply anew for these certifications. Landmark is required to wait a year after the deal’s effective date before applying for a certification for its Mishawaka facility.
The settlement agreement is dated April 18. Representatives of Landmark Recovery and DMHA have not returned a request for comment.
In July 2023, the deaths of three patients at the facility in Mishawaka and reports by local media outlets about the conditions of these facilities, which included severe understaffing, led to severe scrutiny of the company’s operations in Indiana. The revocation of the three licenses kicked off a series of challenges for the company.
It laid off nearly 1,000 people soon after losing an initial procedure to the Indiana Office of Administrative Law Proceedings in September 2023. Behavioral Health Business reported that the company was evicted from two facilities for falling behind on rent.
Public court records also show that it settled a dispute over non-payment with Waterstone Properties, the landlord of four facilities previously operated by Landmark Recovery. The company transitioned management to another company, effective May 1, according to a previous statement given to BHB.
Terms of the settlement over the Waterstone Properties were not made public. A customer service representative at Landmark Recovery who answered the phone for these facilities said the company no longer services these locations. However, the four locations are presently listed on Landmark’s website.
The company is also dealing with litigation over a settlement agreement with an ex-employee who alleged the company’s owner, Cliff Boyle, sexually harassed them.
More details about the Indiana settlement
DMHA has agreed to waive the one-year waiting period for new facility certifications for organizations that surrender them or have had them revoked. It has also agreed to “expeditiously process” a change of ownership for the one Indiana facility not impacted by DMHA’s previous action.
The facility, at 6330 Digital Way in Indianapolis, will undergo “structural ownership changes” and that this development and the facility remaining open is “a material term to Landmark in entering into this Agreement,” it states.
Landmark Recovery, in turn, agrees that it will not apply for new facility certifications more often than once every six months. New facilities will initially be limited to 32 beds. Landmark can apply for clearance for additional beds if it provides evidence of having enough staff in place. Any facility that applies for 100 or more beds will require an on-site physician.
For up to a year after the agreement’s effective date, Landmark Recovery will have to send compliance reports every two weeks for any new facilities. For two years after the effective date, Landmark will not apply for new certifications unless all other facilities have met or exceeded the compliance requirements for the trailing three months before the application.
New applications must include documentation of feedback from community groups where Landmark Recovery plans to open a facility. These groups include the Regional Recovery Hubs (part of the nonprofit Mental Health America of Indiana), state and local elected officials, local emergency responders and hospital systems.
The agreement details an open house the company conducted in the state. It hosted the event on Feb. 8 at its Indianapolis facility.
The company will also be barred from applying for new certifications if a facility receives a notice of deficiency that includes 10 or more “materially different statutes” until it can demonstrate six months of compliance with a corrective action plan.
