Copyright Star Tribune
After an investigation, which included visits to Care Crossings over several days in late July, state officials with the Department of Human Services agreed, detailing in an Oct. 24 correction order 27 violations ranging from inadequate record-keeping to billing for services that were not provided. Lisa Berger-Kahn, who had been an intern at Care Crossings and led a women’s group, said she felt “vindicated” by the state report confirming what whistleblowers said months ago. For a long time, she said, owner Cathleen Harvieux had been telling former clients the whistleblowers were simply angry ex-employees with axes to grind. “More importantly,” Berger-Kahn added, she was glad the state report confirmed the violations, “because these are vulnerable adults; they need to know that people care for them.” But in an interview in July, Harvieux denied committing fraud and said state officials were welcome to investigate. While she said she does things “out of the box,” she said her decades of experience have shaped a program that benefits the roughly 100 clients served. Jennifer Scouton, a former Care Crossings counselor, said Harvieux’s efforts to tarnish the reputations of the former staffers who filed complaints with other agencies and clients has been harmful. Harvieux was told in August she was being fined $200 for using a “disqualified” staff person to provide direct services to clients. In the correction order, state officials said that if she failed to correct the violations cited, she may be fined or have her license sanctioned. A vast majority of Care Crossings’ clients’ treatment is paid for by the state-run Medicaid program. DHS data shows Care Crossings received more than $1.2 million in Medicaid reimbursements last year and more than $740,000 so far this year. In the July interview with the Star Tribune, Harvieux characterized former staffers’ complaints as “coming from people who are inexperienced and have an educational knowledge base but not a practical knowledge base.” She said she has been in the industry for four decades and started Care Crossings five years ago. The outpatient treatment and counseling service program has about 15 staff members. Their treatment-to-work model helps clients gain independence and is different from many other programs, she said, noting it is more flexible, including allowing clients to decide how often they want to meet one-on-one with a counselor. “People don’t understand you can deliver treatment in a way that is beneficial for clients, with a favorable outcome, and you can have 40 clients on your caseload and still deliver awesome treatment by the processes and systems that I’ve set up at Care Crossings because I have the years of knowledge and experience to do that,” Harvieux said. She and lead counselor Kelly Ables disputed last summer the allegations that group therapy sessions have 30 or more clients per counselor. They said counselors were supposed to individualize treatment plans after there’s been an assessment and meeting with a client, and Harvieux said she didn’t know why people weren’t doing that. People had been attacking her business on Facebook and in client emails, she said then, and she believed some were trying to take her clients. “I hope this shows we’re right. And I hope this accountability will ensure good agencies will continue to be able to provide care,” she said, adding about the whistleblowers: “Their efforts likely prevented further harm to clients and have helped ensure accountability within the organization. These individuals were not troublemakers; they were professionals fulfilling their ethical duty to protect vulnerable people in care.” Some of the violations were a repeat of improper practices that were documented by state investigators in 2023 and have not been corrected. “The clients deserve ethical, compliant care, and the staff deserve an environment where their professional voices are respected rather than silenced,” she said. “Moving forward requires acknowledging harm, rebuilding trust and ensuring oversight so that this never happens again.”
