CEO Update 187
NABH Comments on Fiscal Year 2025 IPF PPS Final Rule
This week NABH sent its public comment letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about the agency’s fiscal year 2025 inpatient psychiatric facility prospective payment system (IPF PPS) rule.
In the letter, NABH emphasized that the proposed net update for FY 2025 – an increase of 2.6% percent relative to FY 2024 rates – does not adequately account for the nationwide cost pressures that IPFs continue to face.
“The update does not reflect the remaining healthcare cost inflation that was sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic and still persists in the form of workforce pressures and shortages and other elevated costs,” NABH wrote. “These include continued head-to-head wage competitions with other employers within and outside of local healthcare marketplaces, which are exacerbated by burnout among clinical and non-clinical personnel, and other factors that continually pressure IPFs to raise compensation levels.”
NABH offered its perspective and suggestions on a range of other topics, including the need for modern behavioral health information technology, a request to delay the requirement for ancillary-services reporting by two years, and proposed quality reporting changes.
“NABH urges CMS to delay implementing its proposed policy restriction on all-inclusive reporting. Given the complexity of transitioning from all-inclusive to traditional reporting of ancillary charges, the proposed effective date of Oct. 1, 2024 is impossible and should be changed to Oct. 1, 2026.”
The association thanks all its members who gave their time and recommendations in the last few months to help NABH prepare the letter to CMS.
FDA Launches ‘Prescribe with Confidence’ Campaign to Help Providers Treat OUD
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched Prescribe with Confidence, a campaign to help healthcare providers recognize and treat opioid use disorder (OUD), which the agency says affects 6 million people over the age of 12 in the United States.
“Research shows that OUD treatment is most effective when medications are used,” FDA Commissioner Robert Carliff, M.D. said in a brief video about the campaign.
In its announcement, the FDA noted that many primary care providers have found prescribing medications to treat OUD is easier than they thought it would be. The agency has provided firsthand testimonials, free training, and other resources to help providers. Click here to learn more.
ICYMI: 2024 NABH Annual Meeting Highlights
NABH thanks all who traveled to Washington earlier this month for the association’s 2024 Annual Meeting!
Photos from the meeting are now available. If you choose to use any of these pictures, please credit photographer Chris Ferenzi.
NABH has shared the Annual Meeting slide presentations and learned some attendees had trouble downloading them. We have re-posted the presentations as PDF documents on our 2024 Annual Meeting Speakers & Presentations page. David Wasserman’s presentation will be available until today, Friday, May 31.
We’ve received positive feedback about the NABH Education and Research Foundation’s workforce panel, and we urge you to share NABH’s Workforce Startup Guide with your teams. You can download the guide on NABH’s website homepage.
Reminder: ONC Funding Opportunity Seeks to Accelerate BHIT
HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on May 13 announced a funding opportunity totaling $2 million for fiscal year 2024 under the Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in Health Information Technology (Health IT).
ONC is seeking applications that address two areas of interest. The first area seeks to develop innovative ways to evaluate and improve the quality of healthcare data used in artificial intelligence (AI) tools in healthcare to improve electronic health record technologies.
The second area is focused on designing, developing, and piloting lightweight health IT solutions that can enhance health IT capabilities in behavioral healthcare settings and improve care coordination between behavioral healthcare and clinical healthcare settings.
“These two areas of interest are a natural extension of ONC’s work,” Steve Posnack, deputy national coordinator for health information technology and an NABH 2024 Annual Meeting speaker, said in a statement. “We look forward to receiving innovative applications and seeing the impacts generated by selected awardees.”
Click here to learn more about the grant opportunity.
Reminder: Please Submit Data to NABH’s Denial-of-Care Portal
NABH thanks all members who have submitted data to the association’s Denial-of-Care Portal. You have provided critical information that expands the portal and helps NABH strengthen its advocacy efforts related to erroneous prior-authorization denials.
With guidance from our members, NABH has improved the portal by adding two elements:
- Time-based data on the number of days between a request for coverage and a plan’s denial, which improves our ability to assess and compare health plan responsiveness.
- The gap between days of provided care versus days of covered care to quantify and compare uncompensated days per health plan.
We strongly encourage all NABH members to submit their denial-of-care data in the portal. If you need help starting, or if you have other questions, please e-mail NABH Associate Manager for Congressional Affairs Emily Wilkins.
Fact of the Week
A new analysis in JAMA highlights how a hospital cyberattack can affect neighboring facilities and an entire community’s care: researchers examined emergency department (ED) discharge data from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information between 2014-2020 and found a temporary decrease in ED visits and inpatient admissions at hospitals targeted by ransomware attacks and a temporary increase in ED visits at nearby, unaffected hospitals.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.