When the agency wants to meet behavioral health productivity standards, teach them the Plan B Option. Behavioral health agencies who bill mental health Medi-Cal face challenges with billing. Each agency receives a county contract for mental health services. Case management, mental health services such as therapy or collateral sessions with family, crisis intervention, and medication support. Other agencies treating foster family youth also use Intensive Care Coordination, Intensive Home-Based Services. And some provide Therapeutic Behavioral Services. Meeting the county revenue standards requires staff to bill a certain number of hours per week. Which ranges between 20 to 30 hours for behavioral health productivity. But it’s not always easy to reach these standards, because of the acuity of clients and other factors.
Why? Because clients cancel. No-show. Reschedule. Or things pop up where they can’t keep their appointment. Or the practitioner can’t make it. Plus with COVID and other factors, clients do not want to make their appointment.
This conflict between client engagement and agency revenue hits the practitioner who must meet their behavioral health productivity numbers or face possible ramifications. This requirement creates massive stress on the practitioner. “How do I have time for all my clients to meet them, document, and bill?”
To help them, let’s discuss the Plan A Option and the Plan B Option.
A clinician at an outpatient agency in the Los Angeles area found this problem. He noticed that every practitioner would plan out their schedule as if everyone would show up. That was the Plan A Option. They didn’t take into account that things would go wrong. They’d cancel or not be at their house when the practitioner came. And then they would have to make up all those hours somehow to achieve behavioral health productivity. Panic would set in.
This clinician used Murphy’s Law approach. Everything which can go wrong will go wrong. He found that if he planned, he would think of other ways, he could reach the client or someone else to discuss their services and move the case forward.
Suppose a client’s mother was supposed to come for a session. She cancels at the last minute. The clinician then would call her and speak to her instead and do the session over the phone. Instead of losing billing, the collateral service (talking with mom) went ahead as planned. Billing ensued and behavioral health increased.
Or a client was supposed to meet with the clinician. But she got sick and couldn’t make the appointment. The clinician spoke to the client’s teacher about her progress. About how she was doing in school and offered suggestions. Meeting the criteria for billing. Medical necessity (improving the client’s functioning) and benefitting the client (suggesting interventions). Problem solved.
With COVID-19 and the advent of telehealth services creating access for clients, the Plan B approach can work even more. Clients reticent to come into the office may be more willing to meet via phone or computer. Using a Plan A and Plan B approach together improves the behavioral health productivity for agencies and their staff.
Praxes helps behavioral health agencies with program development and operations.
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PRAXES is a nationwide behavioral health software, consulting, and training company. No one in the behavioral health industry has a better reputation, and if you give us the chance, we’ll show you why! At PRAXES, our services improve the efficiency and structure of behavioral health agencies serving children and families nationwide. PRAXES brings over 45 years of administrative and clinical expertise. With more than 100 client companies nationwide, we offer the expertise to advance the quality of behavioral health services. We accomplish these goals through our new clinical decision software, our training of best practices, and helping companies meet regulatory standards. At PRAXES, we believe in being creative and fostering new ways to serve children and their families. Our vision is to empower the families our agencies serve with skills that not only improve their functioning, but help them to thrive in their everyday lives. When you give us the chance, you’ll be connected directly to our friendly staff, so you can expect immediate attention to your inquiry. So, don’t wait, call now!
Dan Thorne has unique perspectives on the field of mental health. As a clinician, he has had over 40 years of experience working with clients in the Southern California area. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine, he worked with children in the Orange County Juvenile Hall. Here he honed his earliest techniques on at-risk children. After that, he obtained his Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton.
In the 1990’s, Dan turned his attention to the clinical and administrative side of behavioral health organizations. For three years, he was the Assistant Administrator of Starting Point, a chemical dependency facility in Costa Mesa, CA. In 2001, he took an opportunity to be the Director of Harbor View Community Services Center in Long Beach. When he arrived, the Center had only 80 clients and 13 staff. When he left, there were over 400 clients and 75 staff. Dan created several programs through their contract with the Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Child and Family Services. Under his guidance, Harbor View became one of the leading providers of children’s services in Los Angeles County.
While improving the results of the client’s parents at the Center, Dan reflected on his experiences as a parent. His children themselves had special needs such as mental and intellectual challenges, and Dan knew the toll it takes on the parent. In order to help the child, the parent has to be healthy. From this concept, he created his parenting program. After years of refining it, teaching it to his staff at the Center, and then taking the results and comments from these efforts, he became the developer of the current PRAXES program. It is a culmination of Dan’s personal trials and tribulations as a parent along with empirical results and research of over 40 parenting programs.
Our vision at PRAXES is to advance the strength of parents and caregivers of children with special needs (mental health, intellectual, or physical) through education, support, and empowerment. Thus, they can live healthy and functional lives while caring for the child.
Apogee is a clinical decision software designed to help behavioral health practitioners with their treatment and patient engagement. It provides evidence-based and research-based components. Not only do they consist of elements from such practices as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Seeking Safety, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Functional Behavior Analysis, but also the Intensive Models for Parents, Youth, and Children.
PRAXES has over 30 years of accreditation experience. We know what it takes to get your organization accredited. Whether it’s Joint Commission, CARF, or COA, our team can provide an evaluation of your current status and review the standards which need improvements. We will assist you with the policies, documentation, and training required to be accredited.
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