Behavioral health documentation is often the communication tool used by and between professionals. Records not properly documented with all relevant and important facts can prevent the next practitioner from furnishing sufficient services. The outcome can cause unintended complications.
The Senate released its version (a.k.a. Better Care Reconciliation Act BCRA) of the House’s AHCA. Payers and providers adjust as needed because healthcare reforms, like BCRA, AHCA, and ACA, continuously move through state and federal legislatures. Today’s blog, pulls together summaries from numerous resources allowing you a quick glimpse or a deep dive into what waits around the corner.
Here are 10 instances which can help you better identify when its time to look for a partner.
Recruiting and retaining qualified Medical Directors and Chief Medical Officers challenge healthcare organizations of all types. Whether you employ or contract these medical professionals, consider two recent cases as reminders of potential issues far different than recruitment and retention and considerably more financially damaging. Significant risks beyond recruitment exist and staying informed about new Stark Law rulings pays.
Behavioral healthcare cuts both ways for payers and providers. Shortages of qualified expertise makes filling positions difficult to impossible, while the need for services grows on many fronts and in many populations. The Daily Briefing How 2 health systems are rethinking mental health care for a value-based world, from the Advisory Board, reinforces the connections between behavioral and physical health. This identifies tangible targets, like reducing behavioral health readmissions, for improving patient care and institutional financial health.
Healthcare is a labor-driven service that depends on the talent and skills of every staff member, from the C-suite to nurses. Finding and keeping this talent is paramount to running a cost-effective organization that provides exceptional care was an observation from an article by Mackenzie Bean by Becker Hospital Review. Growing turnover rates significantly impact profitability.
Calculating future expenses stresses all managers and directors. In the ever-changing world of healthcare, making the time to accurately budget costs can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, and palpitations. (Please do not operation heavy machinery while thinking about budgets.) Estimating the financial impact of the growing behavioral health gaps may be the final straw.
Today’s blog gathers data points from recent studies, reports, and presentations from around the healthcare industry and offers a starting point for your various budget models. Make the time to verify your models are sporting the most current data. Challenge your assumptions, because margins are thin and getting thinner.
Payers and providers spend significant energy recruiting and retaining all levels of behavioral health professionals. The access to psychiatrists acts as the ‘canary in a coal mine’ signalling the impending challenges. Lacking mental health expertise hits organizations at a time of increasing use spurred on by value-based care.
Massachusetts bill (H 1070/S 1093) adds to the definition of “medically necessary services” and challenges the notion of who decides medical necessity. Medical necessity criteria sits at the center of case and claim determinations. Laws, policies, and procedures evolve through time and the various administrations both locally and nationally.
Behavioral health claims skyrocket for any number and combination of factors. Behavioral health care will increase in cost and utilization with a number of factors driving this, including the:
The greatest need for mental health professionals are found in the more populated east coast and remote northern states. Large populations and rural settings significantly impact behavioral health staff shortages. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released the most current data. The table shows the 10 states with the worst behavioral health professions clinical coverage, the national average, and the 10 states with the best BH coverage.
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