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McBrayer Blogs
Lisa English Hinkle
Showing 53 posts by Lisa English Hinkle.
Up, Up and Away: Penalties and CMPs to be Adjusted for Inflation
As part of the recent bipartisan budget deal, the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015 (the “Improvements Act”) requires that all federal agencies make inflation-based adjustments to all civil monetary penalties (CMPs) within their jurisdictions beginning no later than August 1, 2016. In the health care context, the legislation means that the penalties available to the government under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMPL), as well as the False Claims Act (FCA), must be adjusted for inflation and increased. More >
Tidbits and Takeaways from OIG’s 2016 Work Plan
The Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services (“OIG”) recently issued its 2016 Work Plan, which sets the agenda for its auditing and investigation in the year ahead. The broad mandate of the OIG is to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. With the requested FY 2016 budget of $417 million, the OIG will continue its fraud-fighting efforts and heighten it focus on reducing waste in HHS programs. Waste includes not only fraud, but also unnecessary services, inefficient delivery of care or service, poor quality of care or services, inflated prices, excess administrative costs, or mismanagement of grant or contract funds. With a 2015 track record of $3 billion in recoveries; 4,112 provider exclusions from participation in federal health care programs; 925 criminal actions and 682 civil and administrative enforcement actions and a return on investment of $8 for every $1 spent, the OIG is a force to be avoided. The yearly work plan provides a list of priorities for the office, and in turn gives providers insight into areas of concern in practice. The following areas are on OIG’s radar for the coming year: More >
Primary Care Providers – Are you feeling the pinch?
It was nice while it lasted – due to a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), services furnished by certain primary care providers (“PCPs”) were subject to an enhanced payment rate for Calendar Years 2013 and 2014. These PCPs had to have (a) been Board certified in the specialty designation of family medicine, general internal medicine or pediatric medicine or have a subspecialty designation recognized by specific boards or associations, or (b) furnished more than 60% of claims in specific evaluation and management or vaccine administration services under certain codes to have been eligible for these enhanced payments.[1] The payments were raised to the level of the Medicare Part B fee schedule rate (unless the actual billed charge for the service was lower), and providers had until April 1, 2013 to self-attest to being eligible.[2] The increase applied to both fee-for-service and managed care Medicaid plans. More >
Changes and Challenges for Mental and Behavioral Health Providers
As Kentucky’s Senate Bill 192 highlights, coverage and treatment of substance abuse problems is dramatically changing as the current penal model is slowly being replaced with a treatment model. Even terminology for what has been called "drug addiction" is now referred to as a "substance disorder" problem. Behavioral health has become the new catchall name for both mental health and substance disorders. As substance disorders become medical problems rather than drug abuse problems, the Federal Mental Health Parity Act and the Affordable Care Act now mandate that substance disorders and mental health problems, which often go hand in hand, must be covered by health insurance just as medical problems are covered. As of January 1, 2015, these illnesses must also covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Paving the road for coverage, however, has not been easy as a wealth of new federal and state government regulations are creating a complicated framework with a host of changes for behavioral health providers. While Kentucky struggles to provide and pay for services for the 150,000+ new Medicaid beneficiaries, these new laws and regulations significantly affect not just behavioral health providers, but also employers as the struggle to treat individuals who suffer from these maladies is addressed. More >
Think Twice about DEA Voluntary Surrender
It can be an intimidating experience to be sure... A DEA agent or Diversion Investigator, on an unscheduled visit to your office, confronts you with a KASPER, a KBML complaint or some other state regulatory action and alleges violations of the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA Agent then asks you to sign DEA Form 104. This form, which is titled “Voluntary Surrender of Controlled Substances Privileges,” is placed in front of you while the agent explains why you should sign it immediately, rather than face potential action to revoke your DEA and other adverse consequences. The DEA Agent tells you that you are already in deep, deep trouble (of a vague and unspecified nature), and that the simple act of signing this form can make your troubles go away and prevent federal action. Also, he tells you that all you have to do to get the number back is to reapply! Hold on...this is not the full story! This scenario is becoming a harsh reality and common situation for physicians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and PAs. More >
Medication-Assisted Therapies, Behavioral Health Services Organizations and Issues Facing Behavioral Health Providers, Part Two
This is part two of this article of a two-part article. Part one was posted on Tuesday. More >
Medication-Assisted Therapies, Behavioral Health Services Organizations and Issues Facing Behavioral Health Providers, Part One
Kentucky seems to be losing physicians who treat opioid addicted patients with buprenorphine therapy as tough new standards for prescribing the medication have been enacted by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure (“KBML”). At the same time, Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services has created new types of providers that can offer behavioral health and substance disorder services, and, the Department of Medicaid Services (“DMS”) has eliminated the ability of physicians to provide medication assisted therapy to Medicaid patients in a cash only practice. Physicians facing increased regulations must be vigilant about compliance with these new regulatory hurdles, but may also find opportunity in providing the same services through a provider other than a private practice. More >
Pharmacists: Aren’t you really providers already? – Part Two
The first part of this article discussed pharmacist provider status and argument both for and against it. Today’s post now turns to regulatory hurdles, developments towards provider status and the acknowledgment of changing roles in the pharmacist workforce. More >
Pharmacists: Aren’t you really providers already? - Part One
While the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) ushered in a new era of access to health care, it only served to exacerbate a growing crisis in the provision of health care – lack of providers. As of April 2015, the Health Resources and Services Administration lists the population of the United States that lives within a health professional shortage area (“HPSA”) for primary care as 103,847,716, with 1,023,989 of those living in Kentucky.[1] This shortage calls for a reimagining of ways that non-physician providers can fill the care gap, and the debate surrounding the provider status of pharmacists with regard to federal health care programs is evidence of a changing mindset. More >
Kentucky’s Evolving Behavioral Health Providers
One of the most important effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) is the profound change in the coverage of behavioral health services. Building on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, the ACA requires both Medicaid and Medicare to provide far more robust behavioral health benefits, especially in the area of substance abuse. This expansion of benefits is not without growing pains - health care providers are waking up to the new reality of a vastly expanded need for substance abuse and other mental health services as well as providers. As state Medicaid programs struggle to finance these new benefits, the need for behavioral health care providers and clinicians has become acute. This is especially true in Kentucky, where access to substance abuse care is crucial due to the epidemic of prescription drug and heroin addictions. Fortunately, however, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has taken proactive steps to strengthen and expand behavioral health infrastructure to meet the ACA’s directives. More >
