Psychologists were recently apprised of a “huge win” in advocacy in relation to Medicare, resulting in “rate increases (which) are strong evidence that CMS recognizes the importance of addressing the psychological factors that affect patients’ physical health problems (and) will make it financially more sustainable for psychologists to provide HBAI [health and behavior] services and …
Despite a flattening of reimbursement rates and other concerns about mental health care in Medicare, not only is the feared and/or believed flight of mental health clinicians from Medicare not occurring, but the the actual trend is clearly in the opposite direction. The number of mental health clinicians opting out of Medicare has reached its …
Continue reading ‘The Medicare Opt Out Rate is Decreasing Among Mental Health Clinicians’ »
The exact 2017 numbers are not available yet, but it is all but certain that, for the first time, more than 10 million psychotherapy sessions were provided to Medicare beneficiaries in 2017. The 2016 data are available:Â 9,866,628 therapy sessions were provided that year. Given the rate of increase in recent years, the 10 million annual …
Brief session psychotherapy showed a 3.9% increase in use in 2016 relative to 2015, the first increase in 3 years, to nearly the same level of use in 2013. 2.13 million brief sessions were provided in 2016. With a National Payment Amount of $64.09 in office settings and $63.73 in facility settings in 2016, a …
Continue reading ‘Update On Brief Session Psychotherapy In Medicare’ »
ProPublica named names in its recent analysis of “highly unusual billing patterns” for office visits to MDs within Medicare. This reminded me of the 2016 analysis I conducted of billing patterns for 53+ minute psychotherapy sessions. I thought it was time to provide an updated analysis for the most recent data available, 2015. I won’t …
I’ve previously reported here about provision of psychotherapy to the Medicare population. Another valuable service psychologists and other health professionals provide to those with Medicare is diagnostic psychological and neuropsychological testing. These assessment methods can help clarify diagnoses, formulate treatment plans, measure recovery or progress of conditions, and effects of treatment. To what extent are …
Continue reading ‘Psychological and Neuropsychological Testing in Medicare’ »
Dire warnings of wholesale flight of mental clinicians from the Medicare system, with complaints of low and declining reimbursement, and increasing documentation and measurement burdens, did not materialize, at least from 2012 to 2014. 2015 data became available earlier this year from CMS. Here is what the continued pattern looks like. Two percent fewer psychiatrists …
Continue reading ‘Update: Mental Health Clinician Flight from Medicare Fails to Materialize’ »
In the Medicare population, psychotherapy is most commonly provided in 45 minute sessions (90834, technically, 38 to 52 minutes in length). Sessions of 53+ minute length (90837) are the second most frequently provided. When the 53+ minute code first became available in 2013, many mental health professionals raised alarms about whether this session length would …
Continue reading ‘Brief Session Psychotherapy In The Medicare Population’ »
Turn up the volume!
