State Health Regulators Move to Revoke License for Veterans Village

State health department regulators are seeking to revoke the license of Veterans Village of San Diego to provide residential substance abuse treatment, citing “serious concerns about client safety” there in the wake of seven deaths since 2022.

The state has issued a temporary suspension order, cutting off reimbursements under the state Medi-Cal program, including the Drug Medi-Cal services that paid for scores of people at the Pacific Highway facility. It is effective Monday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health Care Services, which licenses facilities like VVSD, said in an email Thursday that the agency’s move to revoke the license was prompted by a series of incidents over the past 2 ½ years.

“This action follows serious concerns about client safety at VVSD,” spokesperson Tessa Outhyse wrote. “Between January 2022 and October 2022, five deaths at VVSD were reported to DHCS, prompting investigations that uncovered multiple health and safety violations.”

The agency and VVSD resolved those violations by entering into a settlement agreement in March 2023. It resolved numerous complaints and death investigations, and also put the license for VVSD on probationary status with the department.

That probation was supposed to end Tuesday.

But Outhyse wrote that two more deaths, in September 2023 and this past March, along with other “further violations” which she did not provide details on, “revealed VVSD’s failure to adhere to the agreement, leading to this licensing action.”

The renowned San Diego rehab center has been flagged by both county and state officials for a series of violations.

No one from VVSD responded to requests for comment on the state licensing action either Thursday or Friday.

on inewsource.org.

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