CDC Director Approves ACIP’s Covid-19 Vaccine Plan for Healthcare Workers, LTCFs
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield, M.D. on Thursday
approved a CDC committee’s recommendation that healthcare personnel and long-term care facility (LTCF) residents be offered the Covid-19 vaccine in the vaccination program’s initial phase.
The agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Covid-19 Vaccines Work Group earlier this week
outlined a phased allocation for the vaccines that highlighted the committee’s scientific and ethical considerations. The ethical principles include maximizing benefits, minimizing harm, promoting justice, and mitigating health inequities.
ACIP members defined LTCF residents as “adults who reside in facilities that provide a variety of services, including medical and personal care, to persons who are unable to live independently,” and a footnote on slide 12 of the presentation includes psychiatric facilities in the LTCF definition.
As part of this effort, NABH sent a
letter to the National Governors Association that asked governors to prioritize behavioral healthcare providers in the first round of the Covid-19 vaccine distribution. In the letter, NABH President and CEO Shawn Coughlin emphasized that demand for mental health and addiction services has increased during the global pandemic, while challenges such as personal protective equipment shortages and reduced staff availability have placed additional burdens on behavioral healthcare providers.
“It is critical that we preserve and even increase access to behavioral healthcare as a key component of the response to Covid-19,” Coughlin wrote. “Since the onset of the pandemic, our members have been intensely focused on implementing many new practices and protocols to address the increased demand for behavioral healthcare while preventing the spread of the coronavirus,” he added. “They have developed and implemented new screening and infection- control measures. Unfortunately, some of these measures, such as quarantine rooms, reduce their capacity to provide care.”
CMS Maintains Some Telehealth Provisions in 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
In the Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule released this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said it will maintain some of the telehealth service coverage it authorized during the Covid-19 pandemic, including telehealth coverage for group psychotherapy and psychological and neurological testing.
CMS said it will decline to continue covering evaluation and management services via audio-only technology, and instead will provide coverage on an interim basis during CY 2021 for an extended, audio-only assessment service to determine whether an in-person visit is needed.
This rule also finalized regulations to allow Medicare coverage of telehealth services provided to existing patients while at home, regardless of where they live for treatment of substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions. The
Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (
SUPPORT Act) authorized this exception to the Medicare rules that do not generally cover telehealth services that originate from the patient’s home and limit coverage of telehealth to certain geographic areas.
CMS Includes PHP Payment Rates in 2021 OPPS Rule
CMS this week included payment rates for partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) in the CY 2021 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule the agency released on Dec. 3.
In the rule, CMS made final its August proposal to use its existing methodology for calculating the CY 2021 geometric mean per diem cost using the most recent updated claims and cost data. Based on available data at that point, the proposed per diem rates were $243.94 for hospital-based PHPs and $121.62 for community mental health centers (CMHCs). Using the most recent updated claims and cost data as proposed, the final CY 2021 hospital-based PHP geometric mean per diem cost is $253.76 and the final CMHC geometric mean per diem cost is $136.14.
CMS also finalized the proposed payment rate for Level 2 Health and Behavior Services (Ambulatory Payment Classification 5822) at $78.54, based on existing claims data.
CMS Announces RFA for the Value in OUD Treatment Initiative
CMS has announced a request for application (RFA) for a new initiative intended to increase access to opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment services to eligible Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and those dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
Funded through the
SUPPORT Act, the Value in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment is a four-year demonstration that creates two new payments to participating providers: 1) a per-beneficiary, per-month, care-management fee, and 2) a performance-based incentive payment. The
SUPPORT Act makes available $10 million each of the fiscal years 2021-2024 for demonstration payments. According to CMS, these payments will be made in addition to the OUD treatment services Medicare covers already.
The demonstration is open to a range of participants, including opioid treatment programs, certified community behavioral health clinics, and community mental health centers. CMS will accept applications through Jan. 3, 2021, and selected participants are expected to implement the demonstration by April 1, 2021, at which time payments will begin.
Click
here to learn more and apply.
CMS to Host Hospital Price Transparency Webcast on Dec. 8
CMS will host a Hospital Price Transparency Webcast on Tuesday, Dec. 8 to provide a more detailed overview of the resources the agency outlined in an Open Door Forum late last month.
Before Thanksgiving, CMS hosted a Rural Health Open Door Forum to highlight hospital price transparency
resources to help providers prepare for complying with the agency’s Hospital Price Transparency Rule that takes effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
Next week’s webcast will also provide a question-and-answer session after the presentation. Click
here to register for the hourlong webcast, which will begin at 2 p.m. ET on Dec. 8.
The Commonwealth Fund Examines Covid-19’s Long-term Effects on Mental Health
U.S. policymakers should consider increasing the mental health provider workforce and investing in telehealth as the global pandemic’s mental health repercussions are likely to grow, according to a new
report from The Commonwealth Fund.
The report cites modeling estimates from the Well Being Trust that show the Covid-19 pandemic could lead to more than 75,000 additional deaths from alcohol and drug misuse and suicide. Meanwhile, the report notes that the pandemic’s effect on social determinants of health—such as employment, income levels, housing and food security—have “threatened basic survival,” and that nearly one-quarter of adults surveyed in early November reported they had not received needed care in the past four weeks.
In addition to their mental health workforce and telehealth recommendations, researchers also suggested that states examine their respective insurance laws to ensure that mental health parity or equal treatment of mental health and substance use disorders is enforced, and enact plans to help children access the mental health resources they received previously in schools.
Learn about Prime Healthcare in Our NABH Member Profile!
In our latest Member Profile, NABH member Prime Healthcare shared some of the effective programs and resources the award-winning health system has developed and implemented during the pandemic.
Click
here to read Prime’s profile, and please contact
Emily Wilkins at NABH if you would like to submit a profile about your organization.
Save the Date: NABH 2021 Annual Meeting
NABH is pleased to announce it will host its 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
The association re-scheduled for this later date in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you can join us!
After 2021, NABH will host its subsequent Annual Meetings in June. Please save the date for these future NABH Annual Meetings:
Thank you for all you do to advance NABH’s mission and vision. We look forward to seeing you in Washington next year!
Fact of the Week
A
study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this summer found 15% of non-Hispanic Black adults had seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days, and 18.6% had started or increased their use of substances to cope with pandemic-related stress.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond