New Year’s is something a lot of us look forward to. It is a time to make resolutions, spend time with family and attempt to stay up until midnight. With the coming New Year brings a lot of different regulations and rules into effect. Inner Circle Billing makes it a productive habit to stay proactive on these new rules. We take great care and pride in providing not only excellent and accurate services, but the most knowledgeable.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act (MHPAE Act), is a wonderful new bill allowing Americans with Mental Health and/or Substance Abuse disorders seek the care they need and deserve. It prohibits practices that discriminate and limit insurance coverage for treatment. This new bill requires behavioral health disorders to be no more restrictive than coverage for medical/surgical conditions. To further this new act, Federal and CHIP programs are required to comply.

Behavioral Health disorders effect millions of Americans per day. Many families know someone or currently have someone in their lives who uses daily. Behavioral Health issues not only effect the person but also their entire family. Roughly, 105 people die per day from substance abuse related issues, while 6,748 Americans seek treatment (stats from – http://www.medicaid.gov). This growing pandemic killed more people in 2010 than vehicular related accidents. Having many facilities readily available for substance abuse is a necessity. The Affordable Care Act said it was an essential benefit.

Later in life, some people who have used or are currently using, have reported medical issues, including but not limited to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, cancer, congestive heart failure and more. Not only does the behavioral health side of treatment need care, but also the physical well-being side. Yet 54% of addiction programs have no physician to address the physical needs of a patient (stats from – www.integration.samhsa.gov). In the recent years, the combination of addiction treatment and primary care has made valuable headway for persons seeking treatment. New advances in medications have made it more complacent for an addict to stabilize themselves. This gives providers an assortment of tools to help. Unfortunately, lack of funding for these medications and limited insurance reimbursement is a barrier.

Posted in 2019 News