The Lord calms stormy waters, the leader of Kentucky’s largest addiction treatment provider preached last week to a sanctuary full of clients, and these are certainly turbulent times.
“The organization’s been dealing with some storms,” Addiction Recovery Care founder and CEO Tim Robinson told roughly 1,100 clients and employees last Wednesday at Southeast Christian Church in Jeffersonville, Ind., just across the Ohio River from Louisville.
“Not just one, but multiple storms,” Robinson said. “It’s been raging.”
Three weeks earlier, the FBI announced it was investigating Robinson’s organization for possible health care fraud .
Robinson, an ordained minister, was speaking at ARC’s monthly three-hour gathering, which brings together hundreds of clients who are who are currently matriculating through its year-long “crisis to career” treatment program, which has been nationally lauded .
For the second year in a row , Newsweek named ARC one of America’s best addiction treatment centers, Robinson told the crowd, most of whom had arrived on chartered coach buses from ARC centers around the state, primarily from Eastern Kentucky, where the organization is based.
It was the first convocation since the FBI announced its probe.
Robinson, who typically makes an appearance, preached from the book of Matthew. He spoke of Jesus walking on water toward a boat holding his disciples, who’d gotten caught in a storm and were afraid. Jesus invited Peter to walk on water to meet him. Peter does so, but then he starts to sink, fearful and temporarily losing his faith. Jesus saves him, leads him back to the boat, and calms the storm. In doing so, Jesus reignites his disciples’ trust in him as a savior, Robinson explained.
This lesson felt applicable to his own life, he shared.
In prayer recently, God had led him to the story of Jesus walking on water, Robinson said, pacing on stage. It was a story he’d read many times before, but now it rang with newfound insight.
“I saw for the first time help was coming. Grace was on the scene,” he said.
“Here’s what God gave me in prayer: son, I know you’re going through storms in all directions (of) your life, but I’m the one that quiets the storms. Don’t worry about the things you see. Take these things seriously, of course, but look for the opportunity I’m giving you to walk on water.”
On July 30 , the FBI announced it was investigating ARC for potential Medicaid fraud .
Of the organization’s clients seeking treatment, 83% are on Medicaid, ARC administrators have said.
In 2010, Robinson, an attorney by trade and in recovery for alcohol addiction, opened the first ARC facility, Karen’s Place, in Louisa. There were few facilities in the region at the time for people struggling with addiction, and Robinson has said he felt called by God to offer that service .
In the 16 years since, ARC has grown its footprint exponentially, first in Eastern Kentucky, then statewide.
Today, ARC is the highest contributor to Kentucky’s distinction of having the most residential treatment beds per capita in the country.
Though it is still an addiction treatment enterprise, ARC now bills itself more broadly as a comprehensive behavioral health and primary care system, operating a vast network of more than 40 addiction treatment, health care, educational and vocational facilities across Kentucky. ARC has served upwards of 75,000 clients.
Currently, ARC is serving around 2,100 clients daily.
The FBI asked for current and former staff and clients who have been “victimized by ARC” to contact them by filling out a questionnaire .
The form asks for input from employees and clients dating back to Jan. 1, 2019, and if they believe any services provided by ARC were “not medically necessary, not adequately rendered” or “not billed appropriately.”
By the day’s end on Aug. 22, the FBI had received just under 300 responses, spokesperson Timothy Beam said.
“We continue to encourage anyone who believes they have relevant information about Addiction Recovery Care should review and complete the questionnaire at https://forms.fbi.gov/arctips ,” Beam wrote.
ARC is cooperating fully with the FBI’s investigation and continues to serve some of Kentucky’s most vulnerable populations, Kyle Collier, the group’s communications director, said Aug. 6. The organization conveyed a similar message internally to staff.
“We have recently learned that there is a federal investigation into ARC,” Robinson wrote in an Aug. 2 staff email obtained by the Herald-Leader. “As we all know, healthcare is one of the most highly regulated fields in the country, and addiction treatment is among the most highly scrutinized healthcare services.”
Robinson said in the email that ARC is a “trailblazer in the field of addiction services. We are confident in our program and in the services we offer. We, and our legal counsel, are cooperating fully in the investigation.”
Robinson then encouraged employees to be “truthful” if they are approached by the FBI as part of its investigation, “and if you are approached, we would appreciate it if you contacted us.”
Attorney general, deputy recuse themselves
Five days before the FBI announced their probe, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman recused himself from any matters pertaining to the recovery organization, according to emails the Herald-Leader obtained through the Kentucky Open Records Act.
“Out of an abundance of caution, I am recusing from any decisions by our Office regarding matters involving Addiction Recovery Care, LLC (ARC) and any persons related to ARC,” Coleman wrote in an email dated July 25.
The email was sent to Matthew Kleinert, the executive director of Coleman’s office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control; Rewa Zakharia, the chief of the office’s criminal division; and Christopher Thacker, general counsel.
Robinson donated $6,000 to Coleman’s inaugural committee in December of 2023, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, as well as $4,100 to his campaign.
Kentucky Deputy Attorney General Robert Duncan also recused himself from ARC-related matters, records show.
Louisville Public Media first reported the recusals.
Duncan previously worked at the law firm Dinsmore & Shohl and, while there, represented ARC on several legal matters , including acting as ARC’s lead counsel in a 2023 federal lawsuit brought by two former employees alleging wage theft , the Herald-Leader previously reported.
Samantha Carroll and Leanna Murphy worked at ARC between 2019 and 2022 as community liaisons — a position they alleged ARC “misclassified” as salaried (it requires no specialized skill, training or education level, and is not a supervisory role), exempting it from the overtime requirements under federal and state wage and hour laws.
Both regularly worked more than 40 hours a week and were expected to answer calls at all hours of the day, but were never compensated for overtime, they alleged. They sued on behalf of themselves and other similarly-situated ARC employees who they said were also denied proper compensation.
With Duncan leading the charge, ARC counter-sued Murphy and Carroll, who now work for other addiction treatment providers, for violating its broad non-compete agreement. Signed at the time they were hired, the NDA and non-compete prohibits former employees from working at any addiction treatment provider within “60 air miles” of an existing or future ARC facility for two years after their employment ends.
Duncan, in a Jan. 2 email obtained by the Herald-Leader, said he intended to “recuse myself from any matter in which Dinsmore & Shohl represented a client adverse to the (Kentucky Attorney General’s Office) from the time period of February 1, 2021 through December 15, 2023.” This time frame was the start and end date of Duncan’s employment with the law firm. He took office on Jan. 1, 2024.
After the Herald-Leader submitted its Aug. 14 open records request , the attorney general’s office said some of the documents requested could not be returned because of a “pending investigation.”
It was unclear if the investigation referenced is the one headed by the FBI, or a separate probe being conducted by their office.
Meanwhile, ARC continues to expand its footprint.
The organization’s first center in Virginia is poised to open its doors, Collier said. And Robinson told the crowd Wednesday that more space has been leased in Bowling Green for a future outpatient center, which he said will become ARC’s “west Kentucky hub.”
ARC is also renovating facilities in Adena, Ohio, and it just acquired the Southeastern Beauty Academy in Paintsville as part of the program’s vocational training.
“No matter what storms are raging, this boat is floating,” Robinson said. “With your help, we’re winning in our state, we’re winning as an organization, and as we continue to work through some choppy waters, just keep looking for that walk-on-water moment.”
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