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Changes in the way behavioral health providers can bill the state Medicaid system has left a local agency concerned about its financial future, the Mental Health Drug and Alcohol Services Board of Logan and Champaign Counties learned at its quarterly meeting Tuesday.
Jeannie Dempster, executive director of Consolidated Care Inc., said the agency would like to ask for an additional $122,350 when it pitches its annual request for funding at the May meeting, during which the board considers how it will fund the agencies it supports.
Consolidated Care is the primary provider of mental health and substance abuse counseling and psychiatric services for both Logan and Champaign Counties and received $1.6 million in support from the MHDAS board in the 2016-17 fiscal year.
The need is driven by decreases in the amounts the state Medicaid system will reimburse providers for services, most notably the psychiatric and medical services that are the most costly to provide, Ms. Dempster said.
CCI has two and a half psychiatrist positions, which costs the agency $650,000 in salary and additional uncalculated administrative costs, she said. The reductions could decrease the amount the agency can bill by up to 50 percent in some areas.
She said the agency is already making cuts to minimize the impact of the changes, which include increasing the psychiatric unit’s productivity by seeing more clients, implementing stricter no show and cancellation policies, going to a central scheduling system, increasing counseling services and reducing administrative overhead.
The Medicaid changes do result in increases in some areas, such as counseling services and intensive outpatient, which could increase by up to $110,000.
Read complete story in Wednesday’s Examiner.
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