Telehealth is often lauded as the answer to a common problem plaguing many sectors within the health care industry: a shortage of qualified workers. That’s especially true in behavioral health care, where treatment doesn’t always require a physical examination. In fact, behavioral health care often dominates the telemedicine field. Take Michigan, for example: NPR reported […]
World Congress
While the opioid epidemic has captured national attention — and federal dollars — in recent years, opioids aren’t the only culprit behind the rising number of overdose deaths in America. In fact, death by other illicit substances such as cocaine and methamphetamine are also on the rise, in some states accounting for even more fatalities […]
Telehealth services are becoming increasingly accessible for behavioral health providers and the patients they serve. However, regulatory barriers continue to prevent the technology from becoming more widespread. All 50 states and the District of Columbia now provide some degree of coverage for telehealth services for their Medicaid members, according to the latest Telemental Health Laws […]
For years, federal rules have prevented Medicaid from paying for patients to stay in inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities with more than 16 beds, which are known as institutions for mental diseases (IMDs). The rule is known as the IMD exclusion. But in recent years, that’s started to change. Now, states can work around the IMD […]
With minimum wage on the rise and unemployment rates at the lowest they’ve been in 50 years, it’s no surprise that a number of industries — from home care to education — are facing labor shortages. Behavioral health care is no exception. However, low reimbursement from payers for behavioral health services is only exacerbating the […]
While opioid addiction dates back several decades, the phenomena only evolved into an epidemic in recent years. Since 2000, opioid overdose deaths have increased by about 200%, according to the American Association of Addiction Psychiatry. And in 2017 alone, nearly 48,000 people died from opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
It’s impossible to know just how much the U.S. loses every year to health care fraud, with estimates ranging from 3% to 10% of the annual health care expenditure. Similarly, it’s unclear just how much of that fraud exists within the behavioral health care sector. However, one thing leaders in the space and legislators at […]