The owner of PHA Healthcare said he has ended its treatment services, but clients are still living in the addiction treatment provider’s housing, according to interviews with several current patients.

The Maryland Department of Health issued a cease and desist on Dec. 23 to the provider, PHA Healthcare, for operating without a valid license. The state said the organization had chosen to relocate its patients and was cooperating to “ensure all patients are transitioned appropriately” before Jan. 23.

The state order came three days after The Banner and The New York Times published an investigative report about the treatment provider, which was paid millions by Medicaid each year for providing online counseling sessions and placed some patients in apartment buildings where drug use was rampant.

In recent interviews, about a half-dozen PHA Healthcare clients said they were told by program operators they could remain in the same housing while their care switched to a new treatment provider.

“Nothing changed honestly but the program name,” said one current client Thursday, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation.

Lacey McDonald, a 37-year-old client from Baltimore County, said she was sent a link to new online group counseling sessions several weeks ago. That was shortly after PHA Healthcare’s owner, Stephen Thomas, held a patient meeting about the change.

PHA Healthcare “saved my life,” said McDonald, who had started using cocaine when she worked as a dancer at nightclubs nearly two decades ago. She was enrolled at a different program where she saw frequent violence and relapses before finding PHA Healthcare.

“I’m grateful to have someplace to live. I’m grateful I can still see my children,” she said, adding, “I can still have a normal life and be in treatment.”

Thomas said in a phone interview Thursday that PHA Healthcare is “done providing clinical services.” He declined further comment.

It was not clear who is now providing treatment to PHA Healthcare’s clients. The Maryland Department of Health did not respond to requests for comment on the status of PHA Healthcare.

The Banner/Times investigation found at least 13 people linked to the company‘s operations have died since 2022, including that of a 1-year-old boy who starved after his mother died in the program’s housing.

Many patients described living in poor and unsanitary conditions, where even some house managers got high. In recent months, the treatment they received was often group counseling conducted online by people who lived in places like Nigeria and did not appear to be licensed as counselors in Maryland.

In prior interviews, Thomas said that any housing complaints were quickly addressed, and that group counseling sessions were led by interns from other countries who had advanced degrees and were working to get licensed in Maryland.

Baltimore Councilwoman Phylicia Porter said Thursday she does not think patients should remain housed by PHA Healthcare in conditions she had earlier called “horrific.”

“My hope is they are transferred in a dignified manner that upkeeps their care and also keeps them safe,” Porter said.

Earlier this week, PHA Healthcare moved five clients to other buildings after a fire broke out in a kitchen in one of its properties, according to Rafael Coppola, a house manager for the program.

“We could have left them to the street. We did not,” Coppola said. “We just try to make sure people get the help they need and deserve.”

A Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman said no injuries were reported after the fire and the cause is under investigation.