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State officials are working to implement a measure passed by lawmakers this year in response to allegations of widespread fraud and shady business practices at drug treatment centers.
The legislation, signed by Gov. Gary Herbert in March, requires the Department of Human Services to define outpatient treatment programs and establish protocols for investigating complaints about licensees, among other things.
It also requires the department to establish rules for developing minimum standards for licensed mental health and substance abuse program providers.
Diane Moore, director of the department's Office of Licensing, said Thursday at a Health Reform Task Force meeting that officials are close to defining the outpatient treatment programs.
"We're working in the community to say 'how can we make the outpatient definition broad enough to capture all the things that cause concern but not so broad that we're going to overregulate something that is sufficiently regulated?' " she said.
Moore said officials will have nearly everything in place by early fall.
Tanji Northrup, assistant commissioner of the state's Insurance Department, told the task force her department still is getting complaints, which range from abuses with billings services to applications. The department has three open investigations, Northrup said.
"We hope to move forward and see where this goes," Northrup said. "Right now … we're still trying to deal with the new language and figure out if it addresses some of the situations we have."
She added that insurance companies were getting better at detecting excessive charges.