Significant changes to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for psychiatry and psychotherapy services

Effective January 1, 2013, there were significant changes to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for psychiatry and psychotherapy services. The CPT code set is defined by the American Medical Association (AMA) and describes procedures and services by physicians and other health care professionals. 

Some of the major changes include:
  • Removal of evaluation and management (E/M) plus psychotherapy combination codes from the psychiatry section (90805, 90807)
  • Deletion of 90862, the code for pharmacologic management (providers to use appropriate E/M code)
  • Addition of code 90785 for interactive complexity
  • New codes and time intervals for psychotherapy
  • New code for psychotherapy for a patient in crisis
Many of these changes impact billing, contracts, work flow, and compliance protocols. The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare has created a number of resources for Community Health Centers including a free PDF containing answers to frequently asked questions. Click here to download the PDF.

For more information and resources please visit www.thenationalcouncil.org or contact the National Council by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .


 

Assessing the Potential Impact on Sequestration on Community Health Centers, Patients, and Medically Underserved Communities

There will be a real and significant impact from the Sequestration cuts to Community Health organizations.  While one could debate the usefulness of the cuts or the logic of such a change, the end result is it will impact our market negatively.  CHCs need to be ready for this loss of funding and move their organization from grant income  to a more third party reimbursement model as a protection  against these budget cuts.

Read full report from RCHN Community Health Forum 
March 4, 2013 by Peter Shin, PhD, MPH
Jessica Sharac, MSc, MPH
Carmen Alvarez, PhD, MSN
Sara Rosenbaum, JD 

U.S. Warning to Hospitals on Medicare Bill Abuses

Saying there are "troubling indications" of abuse in the way hospitals use electronic records to bill for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, the Obama administration warned on Monday that it would not tolerate what it called attempts to "game the system" and vowed to vigorously prosecute doctors and hospitals implicated in fraud.
Read Full Article From The New York Times
September 24, 2012 by Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell

Regulatory Update

Important Information about the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2013

CMS has prepared and sent HBMA the following information. Please review as this contains important information relative to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payments for CY 2013 and the holding and processing of claims.
Read Full Article from HBMA


FQHC Payment Increase 2013

Announcement of Medicare Rural health Clinic (RHC) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) Payment Rate Increases.
MLN Matters


Health Law Alert

HHS Warns Providers of Abusive "Over-documentation" via EMR to inappropriately elevate reimbursement.
http://www.nixonpeabody.com/HHS_warns_hospitals_and_health_care_providers_not_to_game_system

DecisionHealth Breaking News Alert: OIG releases 2013 Work Plan

DecisionHealth Financial Health for Healthcare.

The Office of Inspector General's ( OlG ) Work Plan sets forth various projects to be addressed during the fiscal year by the Office of Audit Services, Office of Evaluation and Inspections, Office of Investigations, and Office of Counsel to the Inspector General. The Work Plan includes projects planned in each of the Department's major entities: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; the public health agencies; the Administrations for Children & Families; and Administration on Aging. Information is also provided on projects related to issues that cut across departmental programs, including State and local government use of Federal funds, as well as the functional areas of the Office of the Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS). Some of the projects described in the Work Plan are statutorily required, such as the audit of the Department's financial statements, which is mandated by the Government Management Reform Act. 


OIG does not provide additional details on jobs to be undertaken or information on the status of jobs contained in its Work Plan.

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2013 provides brief descriptions of activities that OIG plans to initiate or continue with respect to HHS programs and operations in fiscal year 2013. The Work Plan describes the primary objectives and provides for each review its internal identification code, the year in which we expect one or more reports to be issued as a result of the review, and indicates whether the work was in progress at the start of the fiscal year or will be a new start during the year

The attached work plan has been highlighted identify topics in which an FQHC might have interest.


Inspirational Words

Vision

"Vision without action is a daydream.  Action without vision is a nightmare."

- Japanese Proverb

Leadership

"Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than science of management says is possible."

- Colin Powell

Leadership

"Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than science of management says is possible."

- Colin Powell

Afraid

"It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, 'Always do what you are afraid to do'."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've learned....

"I've learned.....That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you."

Andy Rooney




Monument

"After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why  I have one."

Cato the Elder



Everything matters

"Everything we do matters.  Everything we don't do matters.  Everything we do or don't do matters."

- Unknown


Procrastination

"Procrastination is attitude's natural assassin.  There is nothing so fatiguing as  an uncompleting task."


-William James 

Achievements

"All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts."

- James Allen

Smartest

"Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people, or find a different room."

- Michael Dell

Determination

"Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged."

- J K Rowling

Regret

"My mother always taught me never to look back in regret but to move on to the next thing. The amount of time people waste dwelling on failures... 

- Richard Branson

Regret

"...rather than putting that energy into another project, always amazes me....A setback is never a bad experience, just a learning curve."

- Richard Branson

Silly Things

"If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Enjoy

"So enjoy each and every moment of today...it's the only certainty we know."

- Anonymous

Worrying

"No sense worrying about the past, it can't be changed and planning too far ahead, while a great idea, may never materialize."

- Anonymous

Present

"They call it the "Present" because today is a gift."

- Anonymous

Faults

"I've got my faults, but living in the past isn't one of them. There's no future in it."

- Sparky Anderson

Something New

"Don't be concerned that things appear to be falling apart: this has to happen in order for something new and wonderful to emerge."

- Marianne Williamson

Mistakes

"The sooner you make your first five thousand mistakes the sooner you will be able to correct them."

- Kimon Nicolaides

New Year

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."

- Bill Vaughn

Worried

"A few things I worried about actually happened."

- Ben Franklin

Dance

"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music."

- George Carlin

Thing

"That thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become."

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Great Start

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great."

- Zig Ziglar

Simplify

"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."

- Henry David Thoreau

Miracle

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

Squander Time

"Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

- Benjamin Franklin

Schedule

"The key is not to prioritize what is on the schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

- Stephen Covey

Inaction

"Inaction breeds doubts and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquor fear, do not sit at home and thik about it. Get out and get busy."

- Dale Carnegie

Started

"What is not started today is never finished tomorrow."

- Goethe

Thoughts

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

- Norman Vincent Peale

Intent

"You are setting the shape of your sails-your intent-into the great wind of life."

- Unknown

Destination

"No wind is favorable to the sailor who has no destination in mind."

- Unknown

Thoughts

"You will never be greater than the thoughts that dominate your mind."

- Napoleon Hill

Truth

"The truth of the matter is you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."

- Norman Schwarzkopf

Keep Going

"When you are going through hell, keep going."

- Winston Churchill

Fate

"I am the master of my fate; the captain of my soul."

- William Ernest Henley

Wealth

"Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money"

- Unknown

Talents

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best."

- Henry Van Dyke

Time

"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."

- Henry Van Dyke

Mankind

"There is a loftier ambition in than to merely stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher."

-  Henry Van Dyke

Discover

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines....

- Mark Twain

Discover

"...Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Mark Twain

Making a Living

"Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

- Anonymous

When it's done

"When it is all said and done, there is a lot more said than done."

- Lou Holtz

Life

"Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin."

- Grace Hansen

Home

"The people you work for are waiting for you at home."

- Unknown

Simplify

"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."

- Theroux

Song

"The vast majority of men go to their graves with their song still in them."

- Thoreau

Today

"Don't leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."

- Benjamin Franklin

Balance

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you have to keep moving."

- Albert Einstein

New Start

"Though no one can make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end."

- Carl Bard

Discover

"We cannot discover new oceans until we have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

- Muriel Chen

To do list

"News flash -- you'll never get everything done on your "To Do" list but you'll always have time for the most important things....

To do list

...So always tackle the most important things first and the remainder of your day will be less stressful."
- David F. Jakielo




Time

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

- Michael Altshuler

Sermons

"It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one."

- Unknown

Fear

"Our fear must never hold us back from pursuing our hopes."

- John F Kennedy

Have To Do

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."

- Epictetus

Afraid

"It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, 'Always do what you are afraid to do'."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every...

"Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty."

- John D Rockefeller

Success

"Success comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed."

- John D Rockefeller

Money

"The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my slave and not make myself a slave to money."

- John D Rockefeller

Saving

"Save when you can and not when you have to "

- John D. Rockefeller

Hats

"All politicians should have three hats - one to throw into the ring, one to talk through, and one to pull rabbits out of if elected."

- Carl Sandburg

Trouble

"It's not what a man knows that gets him into trouble. It's what he knows that ain't so."

- Mark Twain

Choices

"Everything in life revolves around two things: to choose to do something or to choose not to do it."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Taxes

"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."

- Unknown

Procrastination

"Procrastination is attitude's natural assassin. There is nothing so fatiguing as an uncompleted task."

- William James

What Matters

"Everything we do matters. Everything we don't do matters. Everything we do or don't do matters."

- Unknown

No Monument

"After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one."

- Cato the Elder

I've Learned

"I've learned.... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you."

- Andy Rooney

Genius

"Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one." 

- EB White

Dreaming

"Man is a genius when he is dreaming."

- Akiro Kurosawa

Intellectuals

"Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them."

- Albert Einstein

Making Changes

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."

- James Baldwin