Experience Acceleration
AHP Healthcare Solutions offers professional advisory services, tools and alliance-building designed specifically to guide and support behavioral health policy-makers, payers and providers through changes in health and behavioral health care systems. AHP’s team has extensive practical and applied experience with health insurance, managed care, Medicaid, mental health and substance abuse disorders treatment, public policy, research, advocacy, and preparing reports for a wide array of governmental and public audiences. We help our clients manage systems change with assessment, analysis and planning, consulting, training, organizational development, change management, and communications.
What follows are examples of our projects from 2010-2011:
Billing Operations Technical Assistance Project
AHP was engaged in a federally-funded effort to guide behavioral health providers in the development of billing operations and revenue management in response to Health Care Reform. This initiative recognized that reforms will compel the behavioral health treatment provider community to accelerate their capabilities and capacity to serve clients insured by Medicaid and third-party payers, particularly those participating in Health Insurance Exchanges.
State Associations: Provider Readiness and Capabilities Assessment
AHP developed the Behavioral Health Provider’s Readiness and Capabilities Assessment leveraging web-based technology and statistical analysis software tools in order to measure and analyze the behavioral healthcare field’s readiness for health care reform. Scores are being analyzed at the national, state and individual provider organization levels to identify trends, conduct gap analyses, prepare strategic planning, develop training and technical assistance programs and inform statewide system design initiatives. We evaluated responses on national and state basis to identify trends and patterns among providers’ readiness to respond to the Affordable Care Act and its many stipulations and opportunities including:
- Medicaid expansion
- Health insurance exchanges
- Essential health benefits
- Accountable Care Organizations (as well as similar Medicaid models)
- Global reimbursement and other payment reforms
- Adoption of health information technology including registries, clinical decisions support systems, electronic health records, and health informatics
Statewide System Design
AHP first conducted a Model State Law, Regulation, and Policy Analysis and suggested in a variety of reports recommendations for the State concerning mental health and substance use disorders policy and coverage in relation to MHPAEA. Behavioral health providers, state legislators, and the Insurance Commissioner then utilized the product of our work to develop a bill which was signed into law by the Governor in August of 2011.
Subsequently, in light of the State’s decision to expand Medicaid in a Coordinated Care Organization context, AHP consultants conducted a series of surveys, key informant interviews, and an environmental scan to identify gaps in the statewide system of care that, if filled adequately, would result in an ideal system design. The results of these efforts led to the facilitation of several strategic planning sessions with providers and State leaders followed by AHP preparing the Optimizing System Design report in the autumn of 2011. This report is in response to a request from the Governor’s Health Care Reform Implementation Work Group and was written specifically for policy makers.
Six-State Behavioral Healthcare Market Analysis and Recommendations
AHP conducted a comprehensive analysis of behavioral health policies, public and private financing of behavioral healthcare in Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Virginia. The results of the research and analysis form the basis for market observations, patterns and trends in each market, opportunities relative to the emergence of Healthcare Homes, Accountable Care Organizations, Medicaid managed care plans, and Essential Health Benefits. AHP prepared a report of findings and recommendations tailored to leaders and financial analysts.
An Environmental Scan of the Impact of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)
AHP senior consultants conducted a comprehensive literature review concerning the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. The research and interviews focused on health systems impacts, behavioral healthcare financing, and a general overview of the impacts of the law upon public and private behavioral health coverage and treatment systems. This and three other seminal white papers have been shared widely with public policy-makers, private managed behavioral healthcare organizations, and large provider systems around the country.
Health IT Planning
AHP Healthcare Solutions was engaged to assist a state’s Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Child Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities integration and IT implementation efforts by conducting an environmental scan of best practices in screening, assessment, outcomes measures and reporting as well as health IT implementation across agencies.
Compliance Review
AHP Healthcare Solutions led a managed behavioral health organization through a compliance review with its health plan and managed care partners, alleviating any discrepancies between their business practices and compliance with Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act rules and regulations. We also led the company through a strategic planning and market re-positioning process.
IT Assessment
AHP Healthcare Solutions conducted an IT assessment and vendor evaluation/selection process for this autism services provider-based network and managed care organization. We developed requirements, scored prospective system vendors and developed an implementation plan as well.
Strategic Planning
AHP Healthcare Solutions was engaged by many different statewide provider associations to provide strategic planning services, training in health policy and health care financing areas, as well as providing their members with training in health IT, process improvement, health information exchange, and Meaningful Use.
Market Re-Positioning
AHP Healthcare Solutions has been engaged by providers all over the country to assess business practices, clinical programs, quality and performance initiatives, primary care integration, and health IT. We have developed tools for clients and provided them with recommendations that are intended to help organizations meet the requirements of health care reform and increased reliance on third-party and other private sector revenue. Our focus when conducting market re-positioning projects includes product and infrastructure development that can meet the demands of new business models like Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).