By this time, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost every industry in this country, the behavioral health space included – however, this industry is rightly still considered essential and so as a behavioral health billing company, we are still operating full steam ahead for our facilities while practicing safe social distancing with our employees. We wanted to take some time to share some of our observations, insights and updates from CA Billing and the industry at large.
- Moving into Q2: We’ve hit April so the first quarter is over! Historically this means insurance reimbursements should begin picking up as deductibles and out of pocket maxes have been hit.
- Admissions still coming in: People are still seeking help for substance abuse and mental health. At CA Billing we are still running a lot of Verification of Benefits and seeing admissions come through, so even in the face of this pandemic behavioral health facilities are still providing care and services to clients.
- Telehealth for social distancing: Insurance companies are encouraging facilities to utilize telehealth to help stop spread this virus. The good news is that once this is set up, the reimbursements and claim processing timeframe are the same for traditional services. If you need assistance setting up telehealth, please reach out to us we’re happy to help.
- Strategic In-Network Contracts: As a facility have you thought about going in-network with any providers? We wanted to go through some of the benefits of being in-network:
- Consistency: As an in-network facility you are guaranteed reimbursement rates for each level of care. This means as a business you are better able to project your income coming in and make more definite plans for your business.
- Easier Claims Process: As an in-network facility your claims will be processed faster with less processing issues. Also a smaller number of claims will get denied so there will be less claim follow up.
CA Billing helps our facilities strategize which insurance carriers make sense to develop an in-network contract with. Based on your location, services you provide, and your marketing we can help you determine what makes the most sense for your business.
If you have any questions about your billing, whether you are one of our facilities or not please feel free to reach out. Also, we have some exciting new data tools coming out in the next several months for the facilities we work with and we can’t wait to share.