HHS Announces $25.5 Billion in Covid-19 Provider Funding
The Biden administration announced Friday that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) is making available $25.5 billion in new funding for healthcare providers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to an announcement, the funding—which HHS is making available through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)—includes $8.5 billion in
American Rescue Plan resources for providers who serve rural Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or Medicare patients, and an additional $17 billion for Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 for a wide range of providers who can document revenue loss and expenses associated with the pandemic.
“This funding critically helps healthcare providers who have endured demanding workloads and significant financial strains amidst the pandemic,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the announcement. “The funding will be distributed with an eye towards equity, to ensure providers who serve our most vulnerable communities will receive the support they need.”
HHS also said that consistent with requirements included in the
Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020, PRF Phase 4 payments will be based on providers’ lost revenues and expenditures between July 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.
The combined application for
American Rescue Plan funding and PRF Phase 4 will
open on Sept. 29.
Biden Administration to Expand Vaccination Requirements for Healthcare Facilities
The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will require Covid-19 vaccinations for staff within all Medicare and Medicaid-certified
facilities to protect both healthcare workers and patients from the deadly virus and its more contagious Delta variant.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is developing an interim final rule with comment period that it expects to release in October.
“As the Delta variant continues to spread, we know the best defense against it lies with the Covid-19 vaccine,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a news release. “Data show that the higher the level of vaccination rates among providers and staff, the lower the infection rate is among patients who are dependent upon them for care,” she continued. “Now is the time to act. I’m urging everyone, but especially those fighting this virus on the front lines, to get vaccinated and protect themselves, their families, and their patients from Covid-19.”
The NABH team will continue to learn more and keep members apprised of how the new rule will affect providers who work in psychiatric facilities and addiction treatment centers.
SAMHSA Awards $17.8 Million for Mental Health Awareness Training
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced it has released 145 awards totaling $17.8 million to help communities build mental health awareness among individuals who interact with people who experience or exhibit symptoms of a mental health disorder and refer them to appropriate services.
Each Mental Health Awareness Training grant recipient will receive up to $125,000 for the first year of this five-year grant program, which will train school personnel, emergency first responders, law enforcement, veterans, armed services members, and their families to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health disorders, particularly serious mental illness and/or serious emotional disturbances, to respond safely and appropriately.
Click
here to read the list of grant recipients.
NABH Sends Comments to CMS on Surprise Billing
In a
letter to CMS this week, NABH highlighted the increased need for mental health and addiction treatment during the pandemic and asked the agency to mitigate the extent to which new surprise billing rules impose additional burdens on behavioral healthcare providers.
“Many psychiatric hospitals have negative net operating margins despite offering services that are in high demand in communities across the country,” NABH said in its letter about CMS’ requirements related to surprise billing. “The Covid-19 pandemic has added to the strain on these facilities with additional financial losses and unexpected costs, including those related to greatly increased use of personal protective equipment, increased screening of individuals coming into the facilities with additional staffing needs for screening, and other infection-control measures, including isolation rooms and units, software and hardware purchases to facilitate telework for administrative staff and telehealth for patients, and lost revenue due to 2 decreased patient volume because of infection concerns and reduced referrals.”
NABH added that it supports the position in the agency’s rules to “exclude behavioral healthcare services from the prohibition on notice and consent to balance bill.”
Click
here to read CMS’ July news release about the surprise billing requirements and here to
read the interim final rule.
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.
2021 NABH Annual Meeting Hotel Cut-Off Date is Next Week
Please be sure to
reserve your hotel room today at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC for the 2021 NABH Annual Meeting! The hotel’s cut-off date is next
Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.
And please visit our Annual Meeting
webpage to register for the meeting, if you have not done so yet. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
Fact of the Week
Findings from a new
study suggest a co-response team could lead to a lower chance of an individual entering into the criminal justice system during a crisis call with police, which has major implications for reducing the criminalization of mental illness if alternatives to police response for people with serious mental illness continues to spread throughout the United States.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.