Provider Relief Fund Reporting Period 2 Deadline is March 31
The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Provider Relief Fund (PRF) reporting
portal remains open for healthcare providers who need to report their use of PRF funds in Reporting Period 2 (RP2) by the deadline on Thursday, March 31.
According to HRSA, providers who received one or more payments totaling greater than $10,000 in the aggregate during a Payment Received Period must use the funds by the deadline and report for each application reporting period.
HRSA’s announcement also said that providers who received PRF payments exceeding $10,000 in the aggregate between
July 1, 2020 and Dec. 2020 and who do not submit a report on use of the funds by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 31, 2022 will be required to return all funds.
HRSA said it will not grant grace periods or extensions. Click
here to read HRSA’s PRF Reporting Non-Compliance fact sheet.
NABH Submits Comments to CMS about Network Adequacy in Medicare Advantage
NABH this week submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the agency’s proposed rule about technical changes to the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit programs for the contract year 2023.
In a
letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, NABH described how MA plans can increase the number of behavioral healthcare providers and facilities in their networks and improve access to mental health and addiction treatment.
“Unfortunately, Medicare beneficiaries do not have adequate access to mental health and addiction treatment,” NABH’s noted. “According to a CMS Data Brief, ‘[b]eneficiaries with depression, regardless of age, were more likely to report having trouble getting healthcare, obtaining prescription medicines, and not seeing doctors than those without depression.’ In addition, Medicare ‘[b]eneficiaries with depression regardless of age, were more likely to report that they have no usual source of care due to high cost.’ These difficulties accessing behavioral healthcare undoubtedly result from MA plans disproportionately lacking in-network behavioral healthcare providers,” NABH’s letter continued. “A recent study found that MA networks included only 23% of psychiatrists in a county on average — lower than all other medical specialties. Not surprisingly, MA enrollees with depressive symptoms report more difficulty accessing needed treatment and rated their experience with the MA plans as worse than in traditional Medicare.”
NABH also provided a series of recommendations, such as establishing specific network adequacy standards for the full continuum of mental health and addiction treatment and requiring those standards be met prior to approval for participation in Medicare; requiring MA plans to demonstrate reimbursement rates for behavioral healthcare providers are comparable with rates for other similar healthcare services; and requiring MA plans to comply with parity requirements and use generally accepted standards of care for utilization management.
OSHA Launches Program to Protect Healthcare Workers at Facilities that Treat Covid-19 Patients
The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched an initiative to protect healthcare workers who work in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities that treat or handle patients with Covid-19.
An
announcement from OSHA said the goal is to expand its presence to ensure “continued mitigation to control the spread of Covid-19 and future variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus” and to protect the health and safety of healthcare workers.
OSHA also said it will initiate focused inspections to emphasize monitoring for current and future readiness to protect workers from Covid-19 and will conduct follow-up inspections at sites that previously received citations.
“OSHA intends to expand its presence in targeted high-hazard healthcare facilities during a three-month period from March 9, 2022 to June 9, 2022,” the announcement said. “Through this focused enforcement initiative, the agency will verify and assess hospital and skilled nursing care employers’ compliance actions taken, including their readiness to address any ongoing or future Covid-19 surges.”
Congressional Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus to Host Webinar on Opioid Crisis Next Week
The Congressional Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus will host a webinar titled “The Changing Landscape & New Challenges of the Opioid Epidemic” next Thursday, March 17 at 3 p.m. ET.
Presenters include award-winning actor Michael Keaton; Beau Kilmer, Ph.D., director of RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center; and Arnold Alier Martinez, Ed.D., NRP, director of the division of pre-hospital medicine research and overdose prevention at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environment Control.
Click
here to register.
The Joint Commission to Host Webinar About Behavioral Health and Human Services Accreditation on March 22
The Joint Commission will host a complimentary webinar about behavioral health and human services accreditation on Tuesday, March 22 from 10 am. – 12:30 p.m. ET.
In a live executive training, the Joint Commission will address the process, cost, requirements, and resources for assistance and will also leave time for questions. The Joint Commission’s announcement also said attendees will leave with a free, 90-day trial of the Joint Commission’s requirements and a copy of the webinar’s slides.
Click
here to register.
Register for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week: March 21-27, 2022
National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week is approaching, and The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites organizations to participate in the national 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.
Advertise in the 2022 NABH Exhibitor and Sponsor Guide!
NABH will distribute the
2022 NABH Exhibitor and Sponsor Guide to all registrants at the Annual Meeting from June 13–15, 2022 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C.
Be sure your organization is included in it!
All ads are due by April 19, 2022. Please click
here for details about advertising options, requirements, payment, and more. NABH will also post the
2022 NABH Exhibitor and Sponsor Guide on the association’s
website after the Annual Meeting.
If you haven’t done so yet, please
register for the Annual Meeting and
reserve your hotel room today!
Fact of the Week
Between April 2021 and October 2021, the highest rates of telehealth visits were among those with Medicaid (29.3%) and Medicare (27.4%), Black individuals (26.8%), and those earning less than $25,000 (26.7%), according to
data from HHS’ Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.