Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate confirmed Kennedy on Thursday in a 52 to 48 vote, mostly along party lines. In his new role, Kennedy will direct $1.7 trillion in federal funds, including those that pay for government health insurance […]
Category: Medicaid
This is an exclusive BHB+ story New presidents regularly shift focuses and funding streams when entering office. The Trump administration has done so in an unprecedented manner. A slew of executive orders, including a confusing and then retracted funding freeze order, and Medicaid portal issues created chaos last week. While the funding freeze was retracted, […]
Virtual opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment provider Bicycle Health has achieved profitability after abandoning its “growth at all costs” mindset and streamlining its business model. The company is now set for long-term, disciplined growth, including acquiring other providers, founder and CEO Ankit Gupta told Addiction Treatment Business. Bicycle will use funds from a new $16.5 […]
Behavioral health providers have faced regulatory uncertainty regarding government funding and access to Medicaid this week. The Trump administration issued a funding freeze on Monday only for it to be blocked by a federal judge on Tuesday. States reported outages to the Medicaid portal on Tuesday and more interruptions on Wednesday, while the White House […]
Substance use disorder (SUD) treatment provider Meridian Behavioral Health has acquired Gateway Recovery Center, adding a crucial element to its continuum of care. Gateway provides medical detoxification, a service for which Meridian previously had to refer patients elsewhere. The acquisition is also part of Meridian’s strategic growth plan, which CEO Lewis Zeidner estimates will involve […]
Private equity-backed behavioral health provider PAX Health has acquired Harris Psychiatry Services, a psychiatric care provider specializing in workers’ compensation. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. PAX Health was formed in March 2024 by merging three behavioral health companies: Behavioral Medicine Associates (BMA), Workers Compensation Psychological Network (WCPN) and Reservoir Health. The company […]
Indiana’s Medicaid program wants to cap coverage of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for children and roll out additional workforce regulations. At a state budget committee on Dec. 17, officials with Indiana Medicaid unveiled a plan to limit ABA coverage to “30 hours per week for a duration of no longer than three (3) years,” according […]
State Medicaid programs are federally required to cover applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for children with autism. In 2020, the state of Indiana’s fee-for-service Medicaid payments totaled $101.8 million, the second highest in the U.S. An audit completed by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the United States Department of Health and Human Services […]
Optum is reportedly executing a multi-pronged plan to curb spending on applied behavior analysis (ABA) provided to patients covered by Medicaid. The insurer targets its Medicaid-contracted autism therapy networks in Arizona, Nebraska, Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, Indiana and Louisiana, according to a report by the nonprofit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica. The plan is a response […]
Traditional fee-for-service reimbursement arrangements may be leading to increased costs for payers. That’s according to new findings from value-based care provider Cityblock Health, published in NEJM Catalyst. The study found that Medicaid and dually eligible patients enrolled in Cityblock’s behavioral health program exhibited an 11.5% decrease in total cost of care and a 19.7% decrease […]