Mental health providers and other health services will be hit this year by a 9 percent decrease in Medicare reimbursements that could have a devastating effect on mental health care.
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    In a related story, Paula Hartman-Stein, Ph.D. says that coping with the pending 9 percent Medicare reductions psychologists can take hope from the adage: “It’s always darkest before the dawn” – and some practitioners say a new dawn is coming.
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    If doctoral psychologists want to be paid more by insurance companies, they need to do a better job of showing they are worth it, an Anthem Blue Cross representative said at the annual convention of the Ohio Psychological Association (OPA).
    “It’s a business,” said Greg T. Greenwood, Ph.D., MBA. “Most health care companies are for profit.”
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Electronic billing suggestions for mental health professionals

    The e-health movement is making paper-based patient records and practice-management solutions extinct and third-party billing is no different. Electronic claim submission is too much of a money saver for insurance companies and the government (e.g., reducing processing fees from $6 to 50 cents per claim on average).
    The problem is that the entire system of electronic data interchange (EDI) as it applies to mental health is still in its infancy, says Joshua Rosenthal, president of TherapyMatch.com, a practice-building company.
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