Behavioral Health Providers Tell Senate Panel Software Vendors Might Not Be Ready For Redesign

Coverage of yesterday’s hearing by the Senate Finance Health and Medicaid Subcommittee on the behavioral health redesign language in HB 49.

Software Vendors May Not be Ready!! 

David Turner, executive director of The Counseling Source, told the Senate Finance Health and Medicaid Subcommittee he believes many of the changes in the redesign are positive but he favors the delay because software vendors for providers are not yet ready to test claims.

“This is not a fantasy based on some anxiety about the future,” he said. Mr. Turner urged the senators to consider a proposed amendment that would give the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee purview over the transition, allowing it to determine when the system is ready to switch over to new codes.

Sue Fralik, senior vice president of operations for Mental Health Services for Clark and Madison Counties, said the new codes should be aligned with the available workforce. “The service codes need to match the available workforce, the reimbursement needed for the level of care, and the time of day we provide services,” she said. “We will need to redesign how much crisis care we can provide and when and where we provide it.”

Select the Behavioral Health Redesign Logo below for the testimony provided by many providers.