CMS to address telehealth reimbursement in future behavioral health payment and delivery models
Providers and insurers are paying more attention to behavioral health reimbursement, especially as the opioid crisis fills hospital beds and emergency rooms. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center is designing potential payment and service delivery models focused on behavioral health and the use of telehealth-enabled care.

Providers and insurers are paying more attention to behavioral health reimbursement, especially as the opioid crisis fills hospital beds and emergency rooms.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center is designing potential payment and service delivery models focused on behavioral health and the use of telehealth-enabled care.

The behavioral health models will focus on opioid abuse and other substance use disorders, serious mental illness, mental health disorders in the presence of co-occurring conditions, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

An upcoming CMS Innovation Center Behavioral Health Payment and Care Delivery Innovation Summit will also address behavioral health workforce challenges, the integration of services and Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement for telehealth-enabled care.

The behavioral health summit will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 8 to get feedback from professionals and members of the public in the design of a payment model and service delivery model. The summit will be held at the CMS Central Office in Baltimore, Maryland.

Participants will be invited to present recommendations for payment or care delivery and share experiences of delivering behavioral health services.

"The opinions and alternatives provided during this meeting will assist us as we explore the possibility of developing a model to address behavioral health payment and care delivery," CMMI said.

Twitter: @SusanJMorse