HHS Pays More Than $560 Million to Providers in PRF Phase 4 Distribution This Week
HHS on Thursday announced that the department’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is making more than $560 million in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 Distribution payments to more than 4,100 healthcare providers nationwide this week.
With this latest announcement, nearly $11.5 billion in PRF Phase 4 payments have now been distributed to more than 78,000 providers in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and five territories, according to HHS. This is in addition to HRSA’s distribution of
American Rescue Plan Rural Payments totaling about $7.5 billion in funding to more than 44,000 providers since November 2021.
Click
here to view a state-by-state breakdown of all Phase 4 distributions to date and
here for a state-by-state breakdown of all
American Rescue Plan Rural Payments to date. For more information about the PRF, click
here.
Federal Judge in Texas Blocks Part of HHS’ Surprise Billing Rule
A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday struck down part of the Biden administration’s interpretation of a part of the federal law banning surprise medical bills.
Siding with the Texas Medical Association, Judge Jeremy Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas struck down a narrow part of the surprising billing rule that outlines how to resolve payment disputes between payers and providers regarding out-of-network claims.
The ruling maintains the protections for patients against receiving bills for thousands of dollars in situations such as going to a hospital emergency room and later learning one of the physicians was not covered by the patient’s insurance.
Click
here to read news coverage about the ruling.
Neuroscientist and Former NIMH Director Tom Insel’s Book ‘Healing’ Now Available
Healing: Our Path From Mental Illness To Mental Health, the new book by former National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Tom Insel, M.D., was released this week.
Insel, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist who led the NIMH from 2002 to 2015, spoke with
The New York Times about this new book, which highlights failures in our nation’s behavioral healthcare system, including ineffective delivery of care, gaps in community services, and a reliance on police and jails for crises services.
Insel—who addressed attendees at NABH’s Annual Meeting last year—said in the interview that he hopes his new book will sound an alarm for the country.
“I want to ring the bell to tell people that we can do so much better today,” Insel said in the interview, “and there is no excuse for allowing people with these brain disorders to languish on our streets like this and die at age 55, eating out of trash bins.”
Register for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week: March 21-27, 2022
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites organizations to participate in National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW), a national health observance meant to empower teens and young adults about making informed decisions about drugs, alcohol, and addiction.
NIDA has developed five
steps to hosting a NDAFW event and created lesson
plans and other materials for educators, counselors, and prevention specialists.
Please click
here to learn how to register your organization’s event online.
Reminder: NABH Denial-of-Care Portal is Open to Members
NABH’s Denial-of-Care Portal is available for members to provide information about their experiences with managed care organizations that impose barriers to care through insurance-claim denials.
NABH’s Managed Care Committee worked for more than a year to develop the Denial-of-Care Portal as a way to collect specific data on insurers who deny care—often without regard for parity or the effects on patients.
This NABH member-only, survey-like tool allows users to add the name of a managed care organization, type of plan, level of care, type of care (mental health or substance use disorder), duration of approved treatment, duration of unapproved treatment, criteria used to deny a claim, and more.
The portal allows members to submit individual examples of claim denials or upload multiple entries via Excel. It also includes sections on appeals and physician participation. In time, the tool could be a valuable resource for the NABH team’s advocacy efforts.
Please e-mail
Emily Wilkins, NABH’s administrative coordinator, if you have questions about the portal.
Register Today for NABH’s 2022 Annual Meeting!
Please visit our Annual Meeting
homepage to view the 2022 Annual Meeting At-A-Glance for preliminary meeting details, register for the meeting, and reserve a hotel room.
We hope to see you in Washington from June 13-15!
Fact of the Week
Between 1990 and 2019, the global number of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYS) due to mental disorders increased to 125.3 million from 80.8 million, according to a recent
study in the journal
The Lancet.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.