The behavioral healthcare system continues to transform rapidly. Industry disruption has been unrelenting and threatens traditional ways of doing business. As 2022 comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to review what’s changed in behavioral health this year and see what’s on the horizon...
Even before the pandemic, mental health services in the United States were approaching capacity. A brief prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services in March 2020 concurred. The report examined trends in this field from 2014 to 2018 and found that: Utilization rates...
Communities across the country are severely underserved when it comes to accessing mental health services. There is such a significant need for mental health and substance use treatment, yet access remains a prevailing issue. The impact from not receiving mental health care is well known and...
On March 28th, the Biden-Harris Administration submitted its presidential budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year. While this action is just the first step in the lengthy budgetary process, it offers an interesting insight into the White House’s spending and policy priorities moving towards the...
What is population-based care and why should it matter if you’re a behavioral healthcare provider? In this podcast, "Understanding Population-Based Care", you’ll learn about this emerging healthcare model, how it goes hand-in-hand with value-based payments, and the impact it will have on your practice. According to...
Children in America face an unprecedented rise in chronic childhood illness, from allergies to autism. The current healthcare system is set up to treat acute diseases, but lacks the capacity for complex cases. In contrast, the whole child approach uses collaborative care, including physical, behavioral,...
If you want your organization to thrive in the behavioral healthcare market, you must start thinking about value-based care now. As the focus shifts away from traditional fee-for-service (FFS) systems that pay for the amount of treatment, value-based payments (VBP) are becoming increasingly important to...
The 21st Century Cures Act was enacted in 2016 to help take healthcare IT to the next level of interoperability and data sharing. The resulting proposed rules from CMS and ONC are tied closely with technology frameworks that have been in the works for decades....
Part Two in a Series The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA, greatly expanded both access and affordability for healthcare. Mental health was also addressed, under a portion of the ACA known as the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity...
PART ONE IN A SERIES The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA, expanded healthcare access and affordability. A portion of the ACA, known as the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), strives to ensure that mental health and...
COVID-19 swept the United States in the spring of 2020. Seemingly overnight, businesses shuttered, schools closed, and everyone not deemed an “essential worker” began to shelter at home. While the economy is now reopening in an uneven state-by-state, and even city-by-city patchwork, the pandemic is...
The new year will be here before you know it. Now is a great time to re-evaluate your RCM strategy. Have you selected the right RCM option for your facility? Are you sure you’re getting paid for all of your services? Do you want to...
Families benefit from the support and structure of their community. Sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic has thrown social networks into disarray, and anxiety associated with COVID-19 has magnified everyday stressors. Sudden loneliness and stress can increase susceptibility to substance misuse, addiction, and relapse....
Part Two in a Series The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA, was enacted a decade ago. It has expanded access to healthcare, and made it more affordable for tens of millions of United States citizens. The Mental Health Parity and...
Part One in a Series Enacted in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded healthcare access and affordability for tens of millions of people in the United States. Part of the ACA is the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)....
In the behavioral healthcare field, a divide exists between research outcomes and clinical outcomes. A significant factor in this disparity is data-driven treatment. Measures such as symptom rating scales are core components of research trials, but they are less common in clinical settings. Only about...
Rural, isolated regions have historically lacked resources and infrastructure to adequately address the behavioral healthcare needs of its population. People living in remote areas have limited access to specialty services for mental health and substance use disorders, creating a rural-urban divide. Fortunately, technological innovation and...
Value based payments are here to stay. Figuring out how to measure your outcomes to get paid for your work is just one of the challenges behavioral health organizations face as they plan for the future. Not all that long ago, start up mental health programs...
Depression is prevalent among patients with chronic physical conditions. Because a client’s physical well-being significantly impacts behavioral health outcomes and vice-versa, it's important that they receive treatment with an integrated care approach. For clients with chronic illnesses, physical health goals can be an integral part...
Outpatient behavioral healthcare programs put immeasurable effort into addressing the needs of their clients. Unfortunately, workforce shortages, reimbursement delays, and detailed reporting for accreditation requirements create barriers to providing the best care possible. Innovative strategies that streamline operations can make your program more efficient and...
For quite some time, insurers and healthcare providers have been moving towards a value-based healthcare model, and away from the traditional fee-for-service payment system. In value-based care, providers are incentivized based on the quality of care they provide and the meaningful treatment outcomes used to...
The field of behavioral healthcare has changed. 60-65% of human service agencies bound to a fee-for-service model fail. Medicaid margins are razor thin when you consider the exceedingly low payments mental health counselors receive versus the escalating costs of delivering quality care, forcing many direct...
Behavioral healthcare is changing. Focus is shifting away from traditional fee-for-service (FFS) systems to value-based payments (VBP). These new payment methods link reimbursements with improved performance and outcomes. They are designed to hold providers accountable for the quality of care they provide to their clients....
The healthcare space is in the process of a challenging transition to value-based care. The expectation that most organizations can make the transition in a year or two is overly optimistic. Complete transformation may take a long journey and will require careful consideration. So far,...
Our country faces a crisis. Communities across the nation are stricken with substance abuse and mental illness. Data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) reveal nearly 58 million Americans have mental illnesses or substance use disorders, with 9 million adults having...
As our health system continues to change for both primary and behavioral healthcare, a lot of discussion is taking place about the collaboration and integration of these two systems. As with any change, a method for evaluating and determining what works best is always one...
Value-based care is a reality that service providers are going to have to deal with over the next two years. For behavioral health, it will bring some large and significant changes on how care is provided and paid for. But in primary care, value-based care...
Walmart has become the first employer to use data to rate providers’ effectiveness and value. They evaluate how many patients a physician has cared for, or how much experience they have in a specific method of treatment, then they use the data to reduce costs...
David Ballenberger, Director of Business Development for NextStep Solutions, discusses the changes that are on the horizon for behavioral health EHRs. The need to offer documented value to your practice is increasing, and the ability to prove that your treatments are working with your clients,...
Evidence-based collaborative care programs are patient-centered and provide integrated care for medical and mental health needs in primary care and other mental health settings. Over 30 studies have found such programs to be more effective than usual care of for mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. Offering mental...
A lot of discussion that takes place around electronic health records is rarely about the system’s ability to provide marketing tools. Often, the discussion centers on the clinical abilities of the software, billing, and ease of use. Any system that is gathering data should be...
Can your Electronic Health Record add, subtract, multiply and divide? I can remember standing at the back of the room waiting for Sister Theresa to give me a math problem that I would have to figure it out before I got to the front of the...