1 in 4 adults in the US suffer from a mental disorder and many of those go undiagnosed. By offering your patients a screening and mental health assessment while they are in the waiting or exam room, you can greatly increase the chances of diagnosing and treating those who may be suffering from mental illness. This allows you to get paid for something you are already doing while turning patient wait time into productive time.
Computer based assessments can help reduce visit times by up to 43%, over traditional encounters involving depression and other mental health conditions. By having all relevant data, including suicidality, before you enter the room you are equipped to make an appropriate plan without uncorking the bottle of emotion that can come when discussing mental health issues.
When considering options for depression screening and mental health assessments for your patients, consider the following to maximize your revenue while reducing staff time spent administering and scoring paper tests.
· How many billable codes are included and which ones are they?
· Do you have to choose the tests to administer or does the application choose based on a screening?
· Does the application offer a logic engine to reduce the number of questions patients must answer, and reduce frustration?
· Is there a fee per patient assessment taken? If so, how is billing to your practice managed and does it require work to manage and reconcile billing from the assessment provider?
Computer based depression screening and mental health assessments are billable to insurance and may utilize the following CPT codes:
*All billing information should be verified by a billing professional. Reimbursement rates are based on estimated insurance averages. Actual reimbursements may vary significantly.
Computer based depression screening and mental health assessments help providers meet up to 15 MIPS quality measures. MIPS is CMS’ largest value-based care payment program, and will help spur the transformation of the healthcare industry from fee-for-service to pay-for-value. It is expected that more than ½ a million clinicians’ 2017 MIPS scores will be publicly published by CMS, which will further aid the movement towards Alternative Payment Models (APMs).
The Bipartisan Budget Act has mandated that CMS must gradually increase the MIPS performance threshold each year, such that MIPS can be likened to a treadmill which speeds up over time, motivating organizations and clinicians to keep up with, or exceed the pace of competition. From the CMS.org web site: “Depending on the data you submit by March 31, 2018, your 2019 Medicare payments will be adjusted up, down, or not at all. CMS will provide additional information on payment adjustments for 2020 and beyond beginning next year.” …read more here.
Learn about more mental health billing codes