Letter to Providers, June 2009
June 3, 2009
Dear Clinic Provider:
On January 1, 2010, OMH expects to implement new regulations, rates and services for all OMH licensed mental health clinics. One new feature of clinic program reimbursement is the inclusion of Article 31 clinics in the Diagnostic and Treatment Center (D&TC) uncompensated care pool offered by the Department of Health (DOH). This pool will reimburse clinics an indeterminate percentage of the Medicaid cost related to providing uncompensated care visits. (The actual percentage cannot be determined until the total value of all eligible uncompensated visits to all participating D&TCs and Article 31 mental health clinics is known.)
In order for OMH-licensed clinics to participate in the pool, individual clinics will be required to submit data to OMH outlining their number of self-pay and sliding scale visits. Currently the Department of Health reimburses D&TCs for uncompensated care using data from two years prior. Because OMH has not required mental health clinics to collect this information in the past, we have come to an agreement with DOH that allows OMH-licensed clinics to start collecting the required data beginning July 1, 2009. (Clinics that do not supply data for the period July 2009 through December 2009 will not participate in any Uncompensated Care pool distributions for the 2010 year.)
OMH will be mailing more instructions in the near future regarding the uncompensated care pool. If you would like more information on uncompensated care and/or the clinic restructuring project please visit OMH's clinic restructuring page which can be found at: www.omh.state.ny.lls - under Highlights.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for clinic restructuring staff, you can email us or contact Gwen Diamond at (518) 408-2798.
Sincerely,
Norman Brier
Director, Strategic Financial Direction
Office of Financial Management
Comments or questions about the information on this page can be directed to the Bureau of Financial Planning.