Arizona is falling far behind the pack on adult mental healthcare according to analysis by national nonprofit Mental Health America that ranks states based on the prevalence of mental illness and access to mental healthcare.
The Mental Health America survey used data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration...
Arizona is getting assistance from the federal government in its ongoing effort to clean up fraudulent activity in the tribal health sector. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona has charged the CEO of Apache Behavioral Health Services (ABHS) and a co-conspirator on embezzlement, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
The...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the CY2024 Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgical Center Prospective Payment System (OPPS), which included an increase for outpatient hospitals and ASCs of 3.1%.
The final rule's raise was larger than the 2.8% initially proposed, which the agency attributed to industry response...
Senator Krysten Sinema announced that she will co-sponsor the Rural Health Clinic Burden Reduction Act, a bipartisan bill that would update the original Rural Health Clinic Statute.
The bill, originally proposed in May by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.),...
As the national mental health crisis worsens, in part due the COVID-19 pandemic for patients and healthcare workers alike, behavioral healthcare integration is at the top of industry priorities. This week, health care payers of all stripes are innovating solutions to covering costs.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)...
On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that includes revisions to network adequacy standards for Marketplace plans and paths to transitioning Medicaid members to the Marketplace. The proposed rule adds behavioral healthcare, including substance use disorder facilities and providers, to the...
The Medicare open enrollment season is in full swing and is expected to further entrench Medicare Advantage's market penetration. Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage are both working to incentivize enrollment and stabilize their representation in the market.
Over a third of Medicare beneficiaries intend to stick with whatever...
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published the Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration, which aims to boost pay parity and support for mental health care and substance abuse prevention services.
The HHS Roadmap was developed by the HHS Behavioral Health Coordinating Council and incorporated...
The non-profit healthcare accreditation group for more than 22,000 providers across the country, the Joint Commission, has established new accreditation standards to improve health equity within healthcare organizations. The standards will apply to hospitals, critical access hospitals, primary care providers and ambulatory surgical...
Two nonprofits, Intermountain Centers for Human Development and Community Partners Inc., that provide behavioral health care for AHCCCS beneficiaries, consolidated to weather the storm of forecasted payment cuts and changes to Arizona's Medicaid program.
The consolidation took effect on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018 as...
