Tucked away in the Hedrick Acres neighborhood in Tucson is the in-patient addiction recovery center for women known as The Haven. It’s the only provider in Southern Arizona that is designed for women. It’s been operating in Tucson since 1970.
The Haven is primarily funded through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System or AHCCCS, Arizona’s version of Medicaid.
“A little over $7 million is our operating budget every year,” says Aimee Graves, CEO.
In September 2025 Graves said the facility had lost a substantial amount of funding from the American Indian Health Plan a fee-for-service program that is managed by AHCCCS, due to the state’s “overrcorrection” of the widespread Medicaid fraud scandal.
Arizona’s sober living scandal was a massive $2.5 billion Medicaid fraud scheme in which operators targeted vulnerable individuals, predominantly Native Americans, offering false claims of in-patient addiction treatment services and submitted fraudulent claims to AHCCCS.
State officials responded to that fraud by suspending payments to providers.
At that time, The Haven estimated that it was owed more than $375,000 in back claims; today that number is about $90,000 and now the facility is at risk of closing.
While Graves agrees that state officials have taken necessary steps to address the harmful and illegal activity, she says legitimate providers like The Haven, that have never been accused of fraud, have been negatively affected.
“We need to fix this and we need to fix this fast,” Graves told AZPM in September.
Republican state Sen. Carine Werner has been outspoken about the lack of accountability for the fraud, holding legislative hearings since last August. Last fall, she invited The Haven to testify before the Arizona Senate Health and Human Services Committee that she chairs, to share their story and advocate for the reimbursement for claims that had been owed since 2023.
Democratic state Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales sits on the committee at the State Legislature. She says she’s been working with the Haven for the past year to resolve this issue.
“You have to protect the good actors and get them back to getting paid for services rendered and for services that their clients are in need of like right now, not six months later or a year later or two years later when you’re done investigating other fraud,” Gonzales said.
Back claims, shrinking reserves
Graves says The Haven is now working on back claims from May 2024 for services that were already rendered in good faith.However, some of those claims are aging out.
AHCCCS told AZPM that the agency processes most claims within established time requirements, but claims pending for extended periods could be due to missing documentation or needs for additional review.
Graves says the facility has been going through its savings in order to continue providing services to as many women as it can while it waits for reimbursement. She noted that four years ago, The Haven had more than $3 million in investments.
Today, that number has gone down to about $350,000. Payroll is about $175,000 every two weeks for about 75 employees.
The Haven is not only dealing with the uncertainty of compensation for billable services.
Last April, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed legislation that increased oversight of sober living homes, requiring administrative clearance from local jurisdictions and licensure through the state department of health services.
Before the law passed, The Haven’s recovery housing was not considered sober living housing and didn’t require licensure from the health department. Nor did the facility learn about the new law until Nov. 12, 2025, while watching a state senate hearing, according to Emilia Honkasaari, vice president of communications and development.
Honkasaari says The Haven had not received any kind of notification from ADHS or AHCCCS about the new regulations and sent a letter to the health department requesting clarification on Nov. 14, 2025. A meeting was scheduled with the ADHS on Dec. 1, 2025, to begin the application process for licensure.
That same day, the facility suspended new enrollments into its intensive outpatient program with housing.
“We did not find any announcements, we didn’t find anything on the state’s website, we didn’t find any provider communications for people who might need to be licensed newly for the first time,” Graves said.
About four-and-a-half months later, licensure was awarded on March 27. The empty beds during that time also cost the facility about $760,000.
“When you think about telling someone, ‘Oh, we’re closed for business right now while we’re applying for licensure,’ then they’re going to go find someone else,” Graves said.
Under the sober living oversight measure, facilities need documentation from local jurisdictions that show compliance with local ordinances.
During that process, Honkasaari says city officials told The Haven that it was the first existing large provider in the City of Tucson that was trying to get a sober living license.
The new rules also say that minors are not allowed to live in a house that has been licensed as a sober living facility. However, women can bring their children into recovery housing that operates under a different license.
“The Haven has prided itself on reducing the barriers to treatment by allowing women to bring their young children with them under the new sober living regulations,” Graves said.
When AZPM talked with Graves last year, she said that The Haven had not had to turn women seeking treatment away. During the shutdown, the facility estimates that it turned away about 125 women.
In the wake of the state’s crackdown on Medicaid fraud, stricter prior authorization requirements have made it more difficult for patients to receive timely approvals for treatment. What’s more, the facility is seeing more clients covered by AHCCCS who cannot access behavioral health or substance use disorder treatment services.
AHCCCS told AZPM that there are limited circumstances in which a member may appear to have active medical eligibility while behavioral health service is temporarily impacted.
In a statement AHCCCS officials said:
These may occur during enrollment transitions, eligibility category updates, administrative or data entry discrepancies, system synchronization issues, incarceration-related eligibility changes, or other processing matters. AHCCCS recently identified an issue affecting members transitioning from behavioral health-only coverage to full-service coverage. A correction was implemented, and staff are addressing any remaining impacted records to ensure members maintain access to medically necessary services.
Licensure delays leave beds empty
The Haven is still open and earning revenue. Graves says that even though the facility has taken a hard knock financially this past year, it is pretty full and its recovery housing for women and children is about half full with room to grow.
It is, however, struggling to make up for lost time and empty beds.
“We are struggling mightily to fill those beds as fast as we can, serve as many women as we possibly can, be they here with our living with us or with their own homes,” Graves said.
The facility has also worked at fundraising, but hasn’t received enough donations to bridge its funding gap, which is why it is at risk of closing.
“It’s really been a constellation of things that have happened to providers across the state that are making it very difficult for women to access services, and making it extraordinarily difficult for provider organizations to keep their doors open,” Graves said.
The Haven believes it has served more than 10,000 women over the past 50 years, oftentimes serving family members who recommend its services to those close to them. Graves fears that if it were to all go away, it will be one less resource available to the community.
“The problem is it’s taking so long that we’re all going to close by the time people can figure out how to manage this,” Graves said.
As of Thursday, June 11, The Haven’s Board of Directors has agreed to leverage assets and take out a loan. The facility is also in discussions with two nonprofit organizations to explore the possibility of merging or being acquired.
AZPM has reached out to the Arizona Department of Health Services for comment and is waiting for a response.
This story has been updated to clarify that The Haven suspended new enrollments into its intensive outpatient program with housing.
