Provider Relief Fund Phase 4 Application Deadline is Next Week
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) will accept applications for Phase 4 of the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) and
American Rescue Plan (ARP) rural payments through next
Tuesday, Oct. 26 by 11:59 p.m. ET.
PRF Phase 4 is open to a broad range of healthcare providers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and ARP Rural is open to Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers who serve rural patients. Click
here for more information and
here to apply.
And if you missed it, HHS hosted a briefing session to provide information about these funding opportunities. Click
here to watch the video.
CDC Estimates About 20% of Adults Received Some Mental Health Treatment in 2020
A new
report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics estimates that 20.3% of adults received any mental health treatment in 2020, including 16.5% who had taken prescription medication for their mental health and 10.1% who received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional.
The data also showed that women were more likely than men to have received any mental health treatment, and that non-Hispanic white adults (24.4%) were more likely than non-Hispanic black (15.3%), Hispanic (12.6%), and non-Hispanic Asian (7.7%) adults to have received any mental health treatment.
Meanwhile, as the level of urbanization decreased, the percentage of adults who had taken medication for their mental health increased, and the percentage who had received counseling or therapy decreased, the report showed.
Bipartisan Policy Center Webinar Discusses Mental Health Workforce Shortage
The Bipartisan Policy Center this week hosted a panel of healthcare and policy experts to discuss solutions to the nation’s mental health workforce shortage, including workforce expansion, community training, and behavioral healthcare and primary care service integration.
Panelists included Benjamin Miller, Psy.D., president of the Well Being Trust; former U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., who is also founder and CEO of BayouClinic, Inc.; and Shekhar Saxena, M.D., professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Click
here to watch the recorded webinar.
Urban Institute Study Examines Commercial Insurance Markups Over Medicare Prices
Psychiatry was among a group of medical specialties that had the lowest commercial markups relative to Medicare prices, according to a new
study from the Urban Institute.
The report shows that family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, ophthalmology, and psychiatry averaged about 110% of Medicare rates or less, while the following nine specialties received commercial payments between 120% and 150% of Medicare rates, on average: gastroenterology, cardiology, general surgery, and orthopedics.
Researchers analyzed March 2019 to February 2020 data from FAIR Health’s private health insurance claims database covering more than 150 million people nationwide. The sample included 17 physician specialties and about 20 services per specialty that represent about 40% of total professional spending.
FAIR Health is an independent, national, not-for-profit organization that provides information to consumers.
NABH Wants to Hear from You: Please Evaluate the 2021 Annual Meeting
NABH this week sent Annual Meeting attendees a
survey to evaluate the 2021 Annual Meeting. If you attended the meeting and have not submitted an evaluation, please take a moment to complete the survey.
As a reminder, our
Speakers & Presentations page includes presentations that NABH has permission to post publicly, and the 2021
Exhibitor & Sponsor Guide is available on both the
NABH Resources and
Exhibitors & Sponsors pages on our website. Annual Meeting photos and videos will be posted to our Annual Meeting page later this month.
We look forward to seeing everyone in Washington from June 13-15, 2022 for next year’s Annual Meeting!
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.
Fact of the Week
A new
study published in
Health Affairs found that people with mental health disorders had 50% higher rates of severe maternal morbidity compared with people without mental health disorders, and $458 higher costs per delivery hospitalization.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.