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CEO Update 126

CRS Report Suggests Congress Consider Making Recent Treatment Changes Permanent Post Pandemic

In a brief report this week, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) suggested Congress consider continuing certain behavioral healthcare treatment changes that providers have implemented temporarily during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Changes to telehealth, privacy requirements, and substance use disorder treatment were the three areas the CRS asked Congress to consider continuing or even making permanent after the public health emergency ends.

“Some in the behavioral health field had called for some of these regulatory changes outlined here even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the report noted. “In the near term, lawmakers could consider other strategies to help preserve treatment capacity. For instance, one survey found that many behavioral health facilities are still in jeopardy of closing because of the pandemic,” it continued. “Data on outcomes associated with these adjustments to behavioral health service delivery could clarify if changes expanded treatment safely and effectively and might identify unintended consequences. In this way, the temporary changes may provide insights Congress could consider in determining whether to permanently extend any of these policies.”

T-Mobile Makes 988 National Lifeline Available to Customers

T-Mobile on Friday became the first major wireless provider to make the new 988 national lifeline for mental health crises and suicide prevention available to its customers.

Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile said in an announcement that it modified its nationwide network to translate and route 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number; updated its billing system to ensure customers are not charged for the service; and created a bounce-back message so anyone who texts 988 on the network will receive an immediate response to place a voice call to 988.

The company activated this service during National Veterans and Military Families Month and ahead of both the 2020 holiday season and the Federal Communications Commission’s July 2022 deadline.

NABH Participates in National Quality Forum Webinar on Behavioral Healthcare During Covid-19

NABH this week participated in a National Quality Forum in a webinar about lessons learned in U.S. behavioral healthcare access and quality during the Covid-19 global pandemic.

NABH Board Member Frank A. Ghinassi, Ph.D., CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care; NABH Covid-19 Task Force Chair Anne Kelly, Ed.D., chief quality and compliance officer at Acadia Healthcare; Joe Pritchard, a member of NABH’s Addiction Treatment Committee and CEO at Pinnacle Treatment Centers; and NABH Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs Kirsten Beronio, J.D. represented NABH.

Click here to view their joint presentation.

CMS Grants Certain Exceptions for Quality Reporting and VBP Programs to IPFs Due to Recent Natural Disasters

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced it will grant exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to hospitals and other facilities, including inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs), if these providers are located in areas affected by the California and Oregon wildfires and Hurricane Laura in Louisiana.

In separate announcements, CMS said it will grant an exception to IPFs in certain counties affected by the West Coast wildfires and Hurricane Laura for data collection requirements that apply for July 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2020 that relate to fiscal year 2022 payment determinations.

These exceptions apply to all data that will be submitted during the summer 2021 data submission period for the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) program.

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 this week.

On Thursday, 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 month’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.

NABH to Host Next Annual Meeting in October 2021

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:

  • June 13-15, 2022
  • June 12-14, 2023

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

In patients with no previous psychiatric history, a diagnosis of Covid-19 was associated with increased incidence of a first psychiatric diagnosis in the following 14 to 90 days compared with six other health events, a new Lancet study found.

Happy Thanksgiving from NABH!

NABH will not publish CEO Update next week and will resume publication on Friday, Dec. 4. The NABH staff wishes its members and their families a very happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving!

For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.