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Enhancing Behavioral Care Services Via Managed Care
The President’s Freedom Commission on Mental Health, under President George Bush and lead by former New York State Office of Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hogan, has stated “the mental health system is broken.” Great strides have been made in the decade since the Commission’s report in...
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Crucial Time for Change: NYS’s Behavioral Health Care Transformation
New York State’s behavioral health care transformation is the most significant shift in mental health policy since deinstitutionalization over a half a century ago. Despite improvements that emerged as a result of the shift from an institutional to community-based system of care, significant...
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How Managed Care Influences Treatment Plans
Until about 20 years ago, mental health professionals set fees based on training and experience and were reimbursed by health insurance companies a fair percentage of the bill. Mental health benefits are now part of managed care networks, meaning that patients are narrowly restricted to...
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Will Managed Care Advance the Goals of Community Mental Health?
In the middle of the 20th century, when American mental health policy switched from institution-based to community-based, the primary goal was to enable people with severe, chronic mental illness to live freely and safely in the community with the same rights as other Americans. Considerable...
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Perspectives on the Transition to Managed Care
The year 2014 will provide opportunities for OASAS and the other behavioral health agencies in New York as we prepare for the transition to Medicaid Managed Care beginning in 2015. The goal of this change is to create a system that provides New Yorkers with fully integrated behavioral health...
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Practical Tips to Working with Managed Care
With the changes to managed Medicaid, it is important for therapists to be ready to advocate for their clients and for the care they deserve. After over sixteen years of dealing with managed care, there are certain tips that might be helpful if you are new to the process of calling companies. Often...
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Positioning for the New York State Managed Care Transition
Preparing your leadership and line staff for the “managed care transition,” can seem daunting and perplexing. There is no simple formula that applies to providers in general, or certain types of providers, except in the broadest sense. Rather, it involves a critical assessment of strengths,...
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Preparing for Managed Care: Staff Credentialing, Evidence-Based Practices, and Fiscal Systems
For decades, behavioral health (BH) professionals have fought for the right to have mental health (MH) and substance use disorders (SUD) regulated in a similar manner as medical/surgical conditions. First the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and more recently the 2012...
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Integrating Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment
Integrated treatment produces better outcomes for individuals with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. Without integrated treatment, one or both disorders may not be addressed properly. Mental health and substance abuse authorities across the country are taking steps to integrate...
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The Three A’s of a Successful Agency
In a time of diminishing resources and ever-changing regulations, today’s providers are entering a new era of care characterized by increased oversight activity and a shift in service delivery from volume-based to value-based, among other changes. Success in the new environment will require more...
