Measurement-based care is not just good for your patients; it can also grow your bottom line. You can put this care model to work for you in numerous ways to boost practice profitability. Take advantage of every benefit measurement-based care has to offer, and watch your efficiency and profitability soar.
Get Paid To Use Measurement-Based Care
The CPT code 96127 has made it easier than ever to get paid for using measurement-based care. Use this code to report behavioral or emotional assessments, and bill it at each clinical visit which includes the administration of one or more outcome measures. This increases the total volume of services you can bill for at each appointment. Practices that bill using this code can see a five to 20 percent increase in standard payment. That’s a high return on a simple billing investment and just one way measurement-based care can improve practice profitability.
Many major health payors now reimburse for this code, including Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana, United Healthcare, Medicare, and others. However, you will need to check with your network representatives to learn more about the specific guidelines of your payors.
If your payor does not reimburse for this CPT code, consider renegotiating your plan to include it. The potential for financial gain from this simple billing code is strong enough to warrant placing a high priority on measurement-based care at your practice. This is further evidenced when you consider that measurement-based care is poised to become the standard within the behavioral health industry in the future.
This is one of the reasons why an EHR like Valant, specifically designed to manage the rhythms of a measurement-based care practice, can give you a head start into the future of behavioral health.
From a broader perspective, measurement-based care can be a major motivating factor for your payors. Given the clear connections between behavioral health and physical health, it is in a payor’s best interest to support data-backed behavioral health practices—and it’s in your best interest to help them understand this. Supporting behavioral health can prevent physical health issues down the road, saving everyone money in the long run. If your payors aren’t knowledgeable about the proven outcomes of measurement-based care, help them understand how it benefits them.
Increase the Efficiency of Your Behavioral Health Practice
Measurement-based care can also increase your profitability by boosting your practice’s overall efficiency, allowing you to see more patients and bill for more services.
For one thing, this approach to care can save time for practitioners. Symptom assessment tools help practitioners see patient progress results and consider next steps before an appointment begins, giving them a head start on every clinical encounter and allowing them to focus fully on their patients during each appointment. It also makes intake appointments less “crowded,” as the practitioner does not have to engage in a lengthy conversation to draw out all the symptoms a new patient may be experiencing.
All of this moves clinicians more quickly toward the treatment planning step, which leads to better outcomes for patients over fewer appointments. This frees your providers to accept more patients.
Automation is the trick here; otherwise, you won’t be able to fully take advantage of the efficiency inherent in measurement-based care. Valant’s mental health software automates the distribution of assessments to patients, and automates the capturing of results into clinical notes. In this manner, Valant ensures that switching to measurement-based care involves no extra paperwork for staff or clinicians.
Enhance Provider Performance
Measurement-based care can also influence practice profitability in less visible ways. When used correctly, it has the potential to help your clinicians improve their skills, leading to better results, more referrals, and more patients.
Measuring outcomes gives clinicians objective feedback on whether their treatment plans are working, and how quickly. By observing which patients improve, they gain valuable insight into which of their treatment protocols are making a difference. This feedback can also alert a clinician if they aren’t making headway with certain types of patients or certain types of diagnoses. This can suggest needed areas of professional development, or perhaps even the need for a new program at the practice level targeting a specific diagnosis.
All of this improves patient outcomes, and your referral sources are paying close attention to those outcomes. They will keep referring to the clinicians and practices that deliver results time and again.
Set Your Mental Health Practice Apart
Help your practice stand out in the market by talking about your measurable results. The promises of measurement-based care—objective, documentable patient improvement—can help your practice build a reputation for getting results. Evidence-based results are attractive to all stakeholders:
- Patients want to know that they’re likely to see noticeable improvement over time.
- Referral sources want to know that if they send a patient to you, that patient won’t be back a few months later looking for help with the exact same problem.
- Payors want to invest in treatments that will work quickly and prevent other health issues later.
Get Started Today and Increase Your Practice Profitability
Take advantage of every profitability boost measurement-based care has to offer. When you learn how to get paid for it, how to manage clinicians’ time efficiently and drive professional development, and how to use the results to build your reputation, you’ll see the difference that objective outcomes can make to the business side of your practice.
Valant makes it easy to implement measurement-based care. Our software was built from the ground up to help you manage the logistics and reap the benefits of this care model. Schedule a demo today to see how Valant can help.
