The American Psychological Association (APA) is asking states and insurers to temporarily remove roadblocks that make it harder for mental health providers to offer telehealth services. Doing so is especially important in light of COVID-19, the APA says. “This is an extraordinary public health crisis with vast and unpredictable implications for the nation’s mental health,” […]
Category: Reimbursement
The Trump administration continues to loosen health care regulations in an attempt to better equip providers to deal with COVID-19. For the behavioral health industry, the newfound flexibilities make it much easier for providers to deliver comprehensive telehealth services. Due to the crisis, the government is looking past certain HIPAA rules, allowing providers to deliver […]
More than 80 Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) advocates convened on Capitol Hill Wednesday to urge Congress to extend and expand the CCBHC Medicaid demonstration program. Specifically, they’re asking lawmakers to support the Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Expansion Act (S. 824/H.R. 1767), which would expand the pilot by two years and […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a new final rule that will help behavioral health providers coordinate care by requiring hospitals to notify them when their patients have been admitted. The Interoperability and Patient Access rule applies to acute care, psychiatric and critical access hospitals that participate in Medicare and Medicaid. […]
Hopebridge Autism Therapy Centers, which is already one of the country’s largest autism treatment providers, is expanding its footprint even more in 2020. Indianapolis-based Hopebridge is a completely center-based provider of applied behavior analysis (ABA), diagnostics, occupational therapy and speech therapy. It serves children as young as 18 months and as old as 12 but […]
While more and more employers are offering mental health benefits, that doesn’t always translate into opportunities for traditional behavioral health providers. Many companies opt to provide the benefits through app-based solutions that specialize in remote coaching and stress-reduction, with trendy startups like Headspace and Ginger winning business from corporate giants such as Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX), […]
A care optimization platform that helps patients, providers and health plans navigate substance use disorder (SUD) has raised $15 million in Series C funding. The money will be used to accelerate axialHealthcare’s expansion into the SUD treatment and recovery sector, according to a press release announcing the news. Oak HC/FT, .406 Ventures, BlueCross BlueShield Venture […]
The expansion of Medicaid has allowed thousands to receive treatment for substance use disorder (SUD), a new study shows. States that chose to expand Medicaid following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have seen significantly more low-income adults seek treatment for SUD than states that did not. In fact, in four years, expansion […]
Anthem (NYSE: ANTM) has completed its acquisition of Beacon Health Options. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Prior to the deal, Boston-based Beacon billed itself as the largest independently held behavioral health organization in the country, serving more than 36 million people nationwide. Meanwhile, Indianapolis-based Anthem — which first announced it would buy […]
Acadia Healthcare (Nasdaq: ACHC) has its eyes set on growth, with plans to add about 600 beds across new and existing facilities in 2020 and a “robust pipeline of approximately 30 projects” on the partnership front. Even the sale of Acadia’s UK business, expected for later this year, ties in, as it could eventually help […]