Monday, November 03, 2003

Missouri Medicaid will pay for adult therapy
Article in the November APA Monitor - "Missouri will allow Medicaid reimbursement for adult psychological services, a concession made after a long legal battle initiated by the Missouri Psychological Association (MOPA). The Missouri Division of Medical Services (DMS) announced in June, through its Psychotherapy Bulletin, that psychological services for adults are to be covered by Medicaid when furnished by independently enrolled psychologists--that is, those who are strictly providing services out of integrated health services facilities, such as nursing homes. Previously, DMS only covered adult therapy services provided by psychiatrists. "  
  

Persistence pays with Medicare reimbursement
Article in the November APA Monitor - "With tenacity and support from APA's Practice Directorate, psychologists in several states have challenged attempts by insurance carriers to place restrictions on the delivery of services to Medicare beneficiaries. They've done this largely by helping to develop or clarify local medical review policies (LMRPs), which provide guidelines for coverage,.."  
  

Covering America: Real Remedies for the Uninsured
A report (in Adobe Acrobat format) on 10 different proposals to help cover uninsured U.S. residents  released Friday by the Lewin Group ("a premier national health care and human services consulting firm") as part of the Economic and Social Research Institute's "Covering America" project. As noted in the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, "The proposals, which ranged from incremental reform to the implementation of a tax-funded U.S. health care system, would reduce the number of uninsured U.S. residents by between 12 million and 40 million, the report found."  
  

Home Health Compare
Home Health Care is a database-driven web application at the official Medicare site that gives detailed information about Medicare-certified home health agencies that were certified as of January 2003. The data includes quality measures that "...give you information about how well home health agencies provide care for some of their patients. The measures provide information about patients’ physical and mental health, and whether their ability to perform basic daily activities is maintained or improved. Quality information can be used to help you compare home health agencies." The database is searchable by provider name, state, county and zip code.