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02/23/2021

Addressing Physical & Behavioral Health During COVID-19

 

 


Brought to you by Symposium Sponsor, Medical Mutual


With increased incidents of mental health concerns due to COVID-19, the mental, as well as physical, health of our members, your patients, is more important than ever. Serious mental illnesses and chronic health conditions often go hand in hand, so it is important to address both when coordinating care. Here are four areas to focus on to improve care coordination and reduce hospital readmissions for members with behavioral health concerns.

Here are four areas to focus on to improve care coordination and reduce hospital readmissions for members with behavioral health concerns.

  1. Ensure all behavioral health patients admitted to a hospital are seen by a medical provider. Your patients who are hospitalized for an acute behavioral health event can benefit from a medical consult. This allows you to work with other providers to provide comprehensive care to your patients and improve outcomes such as readmission rates and patient satisfaction. 

  1. Medication reconciliation should be done within 30 days of discharge. You are already familiar with the fact that medication reconciliation after a hospital discharge can play an important role when dealing with behavioral health concerns by reducing readmission rates, improving patient compliance and potentially avoiding other medical/behavioral complications.

    There are several medication reconciliation codes that you can use when submitting claims to ensure capturing care gap closure, including 1111F CPT-CAT-II - discharge medications reconciled with the current medication list in the outpatient medical record.

  1. Coordinate care through increased communication. Communicating with your colleagues is beneficial to improving continuity of care, ensuring medication compliance and reducing readmissions. Continuity of care guidelines and a form can be found at MedMutual.com/Provider > Resources > Clinical Supply Materials to help with care coordination for your patients.

  1. Follow up with your patients after hospital discharge. Patients experiencing mental health issues are often less likely to follow up with their primary care providers, and therefore may have more admissions/readmissions. Be sure to call or reach out to your patients after they have been discharged to schedule a follow-up appointment.

Thank you for working with us to help keep our members healthy.

 


None of the information included in this article is intended to be legal advice. It remains the provider’s responsibility to ensure that all coding and documentation are done in accordance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. These recommendations are informational only. They are not intended to require a specific course of treatment or take the place of professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Members should make decisions about care with their healthcare providers. Recommended treatment or services may not be covered. Eligibility and coverage depend on the member’s specific benefit plan.

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