RCPA Shares White Paper on IBHS — We Must Be Better Together
Intensive Behavioral Health Services
IBHS Access Family Survey
(Sent on behalf of OMHSAS)
Family feedback requested on accessing Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS)
The Mental Health Planning Council, under the direction of The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), is conducting a survey on accessing Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) and is requesting assistance in distributing the survey to families and providers.
- The Mental Health Planning Council is conducting a family survey to collect feedback on accessing Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS).
- The survey link and flyer should be shared with providers, who can then share it with families.
- Feedback will be de-identified and compiled by the Family Satisfaction Team of Montgomery County to be shared with relevant entities.
Data collection for the survey will run from July 3 through August 7, 2023.
“This project, publication/report/etc. was developed [in part] under grant number SM080147, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The views, policies, and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS.” (From the OMHSAS Mental Health Planning Committee)
RCPA, on behalf of our members and those they serve, continue our efforts advocating for children, families, and practitioners delivering IBHS services. We respectfully ask our members to share this survey with families they are currently serving. The information will be utilized to examine challenges and opportunities in creating more viable pathways to IBHS services.
If you have questions, please contact Clare Higgins or RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.
ALERT: IBHS Licensing Update
The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) is aware that not all providers of intensive behavioral health services (IBHS), that are required to have obtained an IBHS license by January 17, 2020, have attained an IBHS license. In order to ensure services are not disrupted, the Department will not take action against an IBHS agency, as long as the IBHS agency is working with OMHSAS to obtain their IBHS license. Agencies that have questions about obtaining a license should contact their regional field office.
Providers that participate in the medical assistance program can continue to bill for BHRS after January 17, 2020. Providers that meet the requirements for providing IBHS will be available to bill IBHS when instructions are issued for IBHS billing by OMHSAS.
View the OMHSAS IBHS Correspondence. If you have any questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.
OMHSAS Releases Updated IBHS FAQ
As part of the ongoing Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) Implementation, OMHSAS has released an updated FAQ. This guide represents a composite of updated inquiries regarding the standards and will be updated as a companion piece to the implementation. New questions appear as follows: Question #14 on page 26 and Question #7 on page 29.
We also stress the importance that our members continue to work with your BH-MCOs on the rate development process, by submitting the requested line by line budget cost analysis for the actual cost of programming IBHS based upon the regulations. RCPA will keep working with the OMHSAS Children’s Bureau and BH-MCO task force in the rate development process as well.
The RCPA Children’s IBHS Work Group continues its work on standards and implementation values for our members and will convey its findings to the Children’s Division via Alerts, Infos, and regularly scheduled divisional meetings. Contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp with questions.
ALERT: Update on Today’s IBHS WebEx
This afternoon’s ABA meeting PowerPoint has been posted to the website. The information is a summary of existing information and will be focused on helping providers new to MA, or only participating in commercial insurance, acclimate to licensing and the IBHS regulations. The WebEx is currently over the registration cap and many traditional BHRS providers registered for multiple slots. If you have been participating in previous IBHS Training and WebEx sessions, this material will be redundant. Please share with any providers you feel may benefit from the information. Thank you!
There will be an additional IBHS ALERT that goes out today with updated information on the implementation. Contact RCPA Children’s Director Jim Sharp with questions.
IBHS Rate Development – Update
As a follow up to December’s meeting of RCPA and the BH-MCO Task Force, and the development of the IBHS rates, we continue to strongly recommend providers consider the activities listed below.
We also request, in addition to providing this to your BH MCOs, that you provide RCPA with a copy of the information so we can develop a concise picture of the actual cost of care by our provider network. All agency information will be held securely and will remain confidential.
- Agencies should do a line-by-line review of the IBHS Regulations to determine current and future costs to implement a specific regulation.
- Areas such as training, supervision, staff credentialing, infrastructure redesign, hiring, quality improvement requirements, and individual staff training plan development/tracking should be considered, but be sure to consider all regulations impacting the delivery of service platform.
- The cost calculations should be shared with your BH-MCO so they have a full understanding of the actual cost of care that your agency will require to deliver the IBHS service(s).
This rate development process will require a partnership with the providers to capture the actual cost of care and implementation. RCPA and the Children’s IBHS Work Group continue to work on the implementation values for IBHS. If you have questions or feedback, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.
IBHS Rate Development
RCPA recently met with the BH-MCO Task Force as part of our ongoing efforts, and the Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) rate development process was discussed. This rate development process will require a partnership with the providers to capture the actual cost of care and implementation. RCPA is recommending the following for agencies intending to deliver IBHS Services;
- Agencies should do a line-by-line review of the IBHS Regulations to determine current and future costs to implement a specific regulation.
- Areas such as training, supervision, staff credentialing, infrastructure redesign, hiring, quality improvement requirements, and individual staff training plan development/tracking should be considered, but be sure to consider all regulations impacting the delivery of service platform.
- The cost calculations should be shared with your BH-MCO so they have a full understanding of the actual cost of care that your agency will require to deliver the IBHS service(s).
RCPA and the Children’s IBHS Work Group continue to work on the implementation values for IBHS. If you have questions or feedback, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.
OMHSAS Releases Updated IBHS FAQ
The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has released an updated version of the Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) FAQ. Additionally, there will be another FAQ update in early January. Please review the new version as the inquiries include OMHSAS responses on staff training / qualifications, licensing parameters, service delivery, and other key feedback brought forth by stakeholders. The new IBHS FAQ can be found here.
We have been informed that there will be new OMHSAS IBHS bulletins released in December, regarding the prior authorized services in the fee-for-service delivery system and the medical necessity guidelines. All new IBHS information provided will also be reviewed by the RCPA IBHS Work Group.
As the IBHS implementation moves forward, we ask that RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp be included on questions sent to the IBHS RA account or directly to OMHSAS regional offices. We will continue to maintain our own member inquiry repository. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact Jim Sharp.
OMHSAS IBHS Update
On Wednesday, November 20, the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) conducted its most recent WebEx, outlining several key areas to the Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) implementation. The materials for the presentation can be found here.
This presentation provided an overview of the following:
- Written Orders;
- Assessment;
- Training Approval Process;
- Current Department Approved Trainings;
- Family Outreach;
- Medical Necessity Guidelines;
- Licensing;
- Enrollment/ Billing; and
- Rates.
This link will direct you to the IBHS Website on the HealthChoices server. At the bottom of the page is the repository of information on these topics as well as the updated FAQ. The RCPA IBHS Work Group will be reconvening in early December to continue to address implementation issues in conjunction with OMHSAS. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.
OMHSAS Releases IBHS FAQ
As part of the ongoing Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) Implementation, OMHSAS has released an FAQ guide. This guide represents a composite of inquiries regarding the standards and will be updated as a companion piece to the implementation.
Additionally, the IBHS Region Summits will be wrapping up next week so if you have any additional questions, please email RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp. Jim will be attending the session on November 14; please forward questions to him so that he may be able to present them. The next OMHSAS IBHS WebEx is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm; register here to participate.
The RCPA Children’s IBHS Work Group will reconvene the first week of December to continue its work on standards for our members, and will convey its findings to the Children’s Division via Alerts, Infos, and regularly scheduled divisional meetings.
