Violations of law led to suspension of social worker’s license for school board candidate

When Maricopa Unified School District’s new governing board members raise their right hands and take the Oath of Office in January, they will swear to “support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona.”

If Gary Miller is among the new inductees, he will need to perform better at this in the future than he has in the past.

Miller is running against incumbent Patti Coutre, Rhonda Melvin, Jaysie Sheppard and Adam Schrader. Two of the five candidates will earn seats on the school board in tomorrow’s election.

Miller, who says he has a master’s degree in social work and doctorate in behavior health, had his social worker’s license suspended in 2010. Miller misrepresented facts on his license application, misrepresented facts during the subsequent investigation and violated the terms of an agreement that initially stayed his suspension, according to a consent agreement signed by Miller and the Arizona Board of Behavior Health Examiners and subsequent order of suspension issued by the board.

“The misrepresentations that they claim was … the dates on my employment history were off a year, and they used that that I tried to mislead the board, which is not true,” Miller said.

The events outlined in the Consent Agreement date back to 2006:

Nov. 2, 2006 – Miller’s employment at “Agency 1” ends. Miller identified the agency as Horizon Human Services, which confirmed Miller worked for the company from Oct. 31, 2005 until Nov. 2, 2006.

Nov. 13, 2006 – Miller misrepresented he is still employed at Horizon in multiple sections of his Licensed Master Social Worker application to the Arizona State Board of Behavior Health Examiners.

Dec. 1, 2006 – Miller submits a revised employment history that again misrepresented he was still employed by Horizon.

Jan. 9, 2007 – In response to a complaint, Miller misrepresented he did not leave Horizon until 2007.

June 19, 2009 – During an investigative interview, Miller said he did not submit a written resignation to Horizon and that he refused to sign the termination form presented him by his supervisor.

Dec. 11, 2009 – In conflict with his June 19 statement, Miller told a Social Work Credentialing Committee he submitted a letter of resignation and supplied the committee a copy of the letter.

Miller’s personnel file did not include a copy of his resignation letter, and Horizon denied receiving it.

Feb. 10, 2010 – Miller accepted Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners’ settlement agreement acknowledging above facts and his violation of state laws for misrepresenting facts to secure the issuance or renewal of a license and for misrepresentation of statements during an investigation. The state board issued a two-year suspension of his license – stayed contingent upon completion of consent agreement terms – in addition to:

• Two years of probation

• Clinical documentation course requirement

• Ethics course requirement

• Practice restrictions

• Clinical supervision

• Quarterly reporting and other administrative obligations

• Reimbursement of investigation costs (also stayed)

July 9, 2010 – The state board reviewed a complaint against Miller. Miller “was properly noticed, but did not appear.”

July 22, 2010 – The state board determined Miller violated the law by failing to comply with the consent agreement when “he failed to notify the board of his employment status on a quarterly basis” and “failed to submit a qualified clinical supervisor for pre-approval in a timely manner.” The board suspended Miller’s license two years.

“I resigned,” Miller said. “I gave a two-week notice, and then they terminated me on the spot.”

Asked why he signed the consent agreement stating he did not submit a written resignation to Horizon if it was untrue, Miller said: “You have no choice. You have no choice. When you get under the radar of Board of Behavior Health, there really is no choice that you have.”

“The reason my license was suspended was I because couldn’t find a supervisor that they would approve to supervise me,” Miller said.

Miller said he submitted a qualified supervisor to the board, but its response was, “Basically, we’re tired of dealing with you, and your license is suspended.”

Miller identified another discrepancy. He said he applied for his license on Oct. 24, “but for whatever reason the board claims that they didn’t receive it until November 13th.”

Miller said the complaint resulted from him doing his job.

“The person who filed an anonymous complaint was a public fiduciary who was upset because of my job as the utilization manager. We did not approve one of her patients for continuing to stay at Desert Vista Hospital. It’s a whole, long complicated story.”

The complaint was filed anonymously, but Miller is certain he knows who was behind it: “She filed a complaint against me at Magellan, too … and the hand-writing was the same, too. We know who it was.”

Miller admitted to putting the wrong dates on his application, but said it would not be an issue if it happened today because the Legislature forced the Behavioral Health Board to change its policies last year. He said the Board no longer requires applicants’ employment history and cannot accept anonymous complaints.

Miller said the state board tried to revoke his license and used its policies to target him and others.

“Those are the things the Board of Behavior Health used to come after people,” he said.

Miller said: “It was very clear from my attorney and from my people I worked with at Magellan and plus the history, people who know the Board of Behavioral Health in this state and how they behave – no pun ***ADVERTISEMENT***intended – they have a firing squad. And that’s what they did, and that’s why the State Legislature hammered them like that because there is a lot of good clinicians like myself that are getting under the firing squad of Behavior Health, and they are just using the process in order to affect people’s license. That’s exactly what they did.”

Miller said the grievance “was unfounded, because I did everything by the book.”

“The mere fact the board got hammered (by the Legislature) last year is enough for me,” he said. “What they did was totally wrong.”

“They are very rogue in this state,” Miller said of the State Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. “It’s kind of a shame they have to behave in that way.”

Questions remain about the current status of Miller’s license.

“My license has not been suspended the last two years; it’s active,” Miller said.

The state board’s website categorizes Miller’s license as suspended. Executive Director Tobi Zavala, who would not provide specifics on Miller’s license, said, “The information should be accurate on our website.”

Miller lists his current occupation as a health information technology consultant and principal in an 18-month pro-bono national research project.

He is a member of the City of Maricopa Board of Adjustment, appointed by Councilmember Julia Gusse to serve a two-year term that ends Dec. 2.