The “Rehab Riviera” is a term used to describe a concentration of drug rehabilitation centers and sober living homes in Southern California, particularly in areas like Malibu, Orange County, and Costa Mesa.

While the Rehab Riviera includes legitimate facilities that help individuals recover, the term often carries a negative connotation due to the predatory practices of some operators. The profit-driven model, enabled by regulatory gaps and insurance fraud, has turned addiction into a lucrative industry, sometimes at the expense of vulnerable patients.

Body brokers play a central role in the darker side of the Rehab Riviera, acting as intermediaries who exploit vulnerable individuals with addiction issues for profit. Brokers lure patients with promises of free travel, rent, or “scholarships” to enter treatment, covering flights or bus tickets to Southern California.

Some offer cash, drugs, or gift cards to entice addicts, ensuring enrollment even if the individual isn’t ready for recovery. Once enrolled, patients are often cycled through facilities to maximize insurance billing, a practice known as “patient churning.”

Perhaps the California Legislature may be taking some steps to clean up the dark side of Rehab Rivera. Santa Ana State Senator Thomas Umberg announced that his package of three bills seeking to address fraud and abuse in California’s substance use disorder treatment system have all advanced through their numerous and respective policy committees in the Senate.

The three measures are:

– – Senate Bill 35 protects California’s vulnerable SUD population and its families by implementing statewide timelines and a local role to the mechanism by which facilities are held accountable when complaints are made by consumers.
– – Senate Bill 43 requires that addiction treatment programs and group advertising entities follow the same rules currently required for chiropractors, marriage family therapists, and dentists. These businesses can only advertise as individual business entities or with a group advertiser registered with their respective professional boards. In these health markets, consumers are protected from false advertisers, internet trolling that siphons people off to the highest bidder, and connections to incompetent and unethical marketing representatives.
– – Senate Bill 83 expands information that must be disclosed to the public by the California Department of Health Care Services about complaints and facility license suspensions and revocations on their website.

SB 35 passed the Senate Health Committee last April by a vote of 11-0 and the Senate Judiciary Committee in April on a unanimous vote. SB 43 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously, as well. SB 83 passed the Senate Health Committee by a vote of 11-0. All three measures are now awaiting consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

According to the Senator’s press release “Southern California’s “Rehab Riviera” is well known to be an area in which a network of rehab facilities exist in a quasi-medical realm where evidence-based care is rare, licensed medical staffers are optional, conflicts of interest are rampant, and regulation is stunningly lax. Senator Umberg’s three measures directly address these pressing issues by adding local enforcement mechanisms and transparency for patients and families.”