What is the No Surprises Act?

The No Surprises Act (NSA) is part of the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) signed into law in 2020. The NSA includes patient billing protections effective January 1, 2022. There has been a lot of discussion around the No Surprises Act and how it will impact behavioral health facilities and medical practitioners. The goal of this post is to explain the No Surprises Act in an easily digestible fashion which will help you, the provider, understand its overall impact on your facility and your daily life.

Topics: Behavioral Health Billing, Behavioral Health, Insurance Billing, US Government, Behavioral Health Facility, Documentation, Healthcare, No Surprises Act

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“Discharge planning starts day one."

Topics: Behavioral Health Billing, Behavioral Health, Insurance Billing, Mental Health, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Behavioral Health Facility, Elevated Billing, Industry, Healthcare

As we enter a new year and a new decade, keeping up with insurance policy changes is no longer just best practice, but essential to your business.  Sadly, with each new year, insurance requirements continue to increase, and guidelines become more and more strict. To help you stay on top of the changes, we have compiled a list of the current exclusions and requirements we have seen increasing as we head into 2020. Also, at the end of this blog post you'll find a FREE PDF cheat sheet--a simplified list of these bullet points that you can refer to anytime!

Topics: Behavioral Health Billing, Behavioral Health, Insurance Billing, Mental Health, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Elevated Billing, Community Substance Abuse Treatment

Joanna Conti, Founder & CEO
Vista Research Group, Inc.

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The number of addiction treatment centers now monitoring their patients during treatment and
following up with them post-treatment has reached a critical mass. Commercial programs who continue
to hold off on quantifying their outcomes are risking being left behind.  Tracking your outcomes is becoming invaluable for a number of reasons:

Topics: Behavioral Health, Mental Health, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Behavioral Health Facility, Elevated Billing, Community Substance Abuse Treatment, webinar

By Joanna Conti
CEO, Vista Research Group, Inc.

 

In this time of tremendous industry upheaval, your ability to convince key payers of the unique value your addiction treatment center provides is crucial to your ability to stay in business.

Topics: Behavioral Health, Mental Health, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Behavioral Health Facility, Elevated Billing, Community Substance Abuse Treatment, Chemical Dependency, webinar

The value-based payment (VBP) model is indeed a real thing, and it is quickly becoming the standard for quality health care. In 2019 many payers are emphasizing VBP, and behavioral health providers will eventually be expected to make the transition as well.

Topics: Behavioral Health Billing, Behavioral Health, Insurance Billing, Medicaid, Mental Health, US Government, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Behavioral Health Facility, Elevated Billing, Community Substance Abuse Treatment, Chemical Dependency, Co-Occurring Disorders

 

Topics: Behavioral Health Billing, Behavioral Health, Insurance Billing, Medicaid, Mental Health, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Behavioral Health Facility, Elevated Billing, Community Substance Abuse Treatment, Chemical Dependency, Co-Occurring Disorders

As recently reported in Modern Healthcare News the United States Department of Justice has initiated additional legal against the legality of the Affordable Care Act, more broadly known as "Obamacare". The federal agency called on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a District Court ruling invalidating the entire Obamacare law, saying it "is not urging that any portion of the district court's judgment be reversed."

Topics: Behavioral Health Billing, Behavioral Health, Insurance Billing, US Government, Elevated Billing

The combination of substance use disorders and mental illness is a common clinical problem – and a serious public health concern. Sr. Ann Sulivan, the Commissioner of NYS Office Mental Health writes for Behavioral Health News. In this blog post, Elevated Billing Solutions explores the history of providing care for patients with both substance abuse and mental illness, the partnerships that Dr. Sullivan and other professionals created and collaborated on with universities and state agencies and provides links to free clinical guides and other useful resources for behavioral health specialists and families struggling to help a loved one obtain the treatment that they need. 

Topics: Behavioral Health, Mental Health, Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health Professional, Behavioral Health Facility, Elevated Billing