For immediate release: December 28, 2018 (18-173)
Contact: Kenny Coleman, Strategic Communications Office 360-628-7883
Hope + Help behavioral health agency and its administrator suspended
Allegations include failure to report positive drug tests
OLYMPIA -- State health officials immediately suspended the license of King County behavioral health agency Hope + Help (FS.60874054). The credentials of its agency administrator chemical dependency professional and mental health counselor George Frederick Brummell (CP.60232611, LH.60604664) were also suspended pending further legal action.
Hope + Help has clients who are court ordered to receive assessment and treatment services. Charges state that on multiple occasions Brummell and Hope + Help did not report positive drug tests, reported tests late or inaccurately, and incorrectly reported that clients were complying with court-ordered treatment. Brummell and Hope + Help allegedly allowed a staff member to work with expired credentials and charged for individual sessions when the clients participated in group sessions.
Brummell cannot practice as a chemical dependency professional or as a mental health counselor until the charges are resolved. Hope + Help cannot operate as a behavioral health agency until these charges are resolved. Both Brummell and Hope + Help have an opportunity to contest the charges.
The legal documents on Brummel’s case are available online by clicking Provider Credential Search on the Department of Health website; copies of the documents in the Hope + Health case can be requested by calling 360-236-4700. Anyone who believes a health care provider acted unprofessionally is encouraged to call this number and report their complaint.
The Department of Health protects and promotes public health, safety, and welfare in Washington by regulating the competency and quality of health care providers. The agency establishes, monitors, and enforces qualifications for licensing, consistent standards of practice, continuing competency mechanisms, and discipline. Rules, policies, and procedures promote the delivery of quality health care to people in Washington.
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