Overview
Coordinating Care for MassHealth Youth in Outpatient Therapy
Beginning in October 2016, MassHealth directed its Managed Care Entities (MCEs) to begin reimbursing consult codes (Family, Case and Collateral) at the same (pro-rated) rate as a 60-minute office visit. In effect, 60 minutes of care coordination is now equivalent to 60 minutes of in-person therapy.
Through this policy change, MassHealth fully recognizes the value and importance of care coordination activities you have been doing all along. MassHealth also recognizes that outpatient therapists could also benefit from understanding how to use consult codes to reflect the full range of beneficial work applied to their patients.
In partnership with the Children’s Behavioral Health Knowledge Center at DMH and the Donahue Institute at UMass, MassHealth developed this training to:
- Outline the basics of the hub service system
- Describe the logistics of hubs in terms of the complexity of needs
- Illustrate care coordination activities within each hub
- Clarify an outpatient provider’s relationship with youth within each hub
- Explain how to use consult codes that support care coordination activities
