The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the 61 providers that it has chosen to participate in its new Value in Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) Treatment Demonstration. Starting this month, the four-year demonstration will test whether a new care management fee and performance-based incentive for OUD treatment can reduce hospitalizations and improve […]
Category: Medicare
When President Joe Biden was elected, behavioral health stakeholders were hopeful he would tackle some of the industry’s most pressing issues, chiefly among them being parity. Even though the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) requires issuers to make behavioral health coverage no more restrictive than medical coverage, payers frequently come […]
Inpatient admissions for behavioral health recovered from the coronavirus at a much quicker rate than for other medical services, according to a Milliman analysis of behavioral health claims from 12.5 million people. Milliman is an international actuarial and consulting firm based in Seattle, Washington. The results of the report — shared with Behavioral Health Business […]
Promises Behavioral Health opens new facility in Texas Promises Behavioral Health has opened its latest facility, an addiction and mental health treatment center in Texas. Located in College Station, Promises Brazos Valley spans over 50,000 square feet and provides addiction and mental health treatment services to adults and college students. College Station is home to […]
Better behavioral health care for Americans would not only produce better results for patients, but generate billions in savings annually, according to a recently released economic report from the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company. The report identified actions that public, private and social stakeholders could take to produce substantial savings in annual health care […]
The number of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans offering special benefits to beneficiaries with behavioral health issues has spiked dramatically in the past year, according to a new analysis from the actuarial consulting firm Milliman. Specifically, the report, which was commissioned by the Better Medicare Alliance (BMA), shows that 135 MA plans are using Special Supplemental […]
Substance use disorder (SUD) treatment providers in certain states serve Medicaid beneficiaries better than others. It all depends on whether they operate in a state with a waiver allowing them to bypass the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion, according to new research published in the February issue of Health Affairs. Not only do providers […]
Days after Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced its plan to acquire Magellan Health (Nasdaq: MGLN), leadership is doubling down on the insurer’s commitment to behavioral. Those services will play an important role in the company’s future, according to Centene CEO Michael Neidorff, who is also president and chairman of the company. “It has to be […]
As the behavioral health industry draws more government funding, it’s also getting newfound scrutiny from state and federal regulators. Enforcement actions against behavioral providers are on the rise, especially for those organizations that participate in Medicare and Medicaid. Consequently, compliance planning is more important than ever — and so is identifying warning signs that suggest […]
For decades, behavioral health services have been delivered in facility-based settings, whether those be inpatient psychiatric hospitals or outpatient clinics. But in 2020, that changed. The coronavirus forced telehealth into the mainstream, in turn making remote behavioral health care delivery commonplace. Nearly a year later, industry stakeholders agree there’s no putting the genie back into […]