In addition, a policy that was found to impact the availability of behavioral health treatment services in health centers was whether state Medicaid programs - the major source of insurance revenue for health centers - pay separately for behavioral services when they are rendered on the same day that medical care is provided, a policy known as same-day billing. In many states, only one payment is permitted even if both medical and behavioral services are provided. Health centers that were located in states that do not allow same-day billing were less likely to offer onsite substance abuse services or 24 hour crisis counseling.
"Permitting payments for both behavioral and medical care provided in community health centers could help more health centers begin to offer crucial services such as substance abuse treatment or crisis counseling," said lead author Emily Jones, PhD, MPP, who began this work as a doctoral student at SPHHS and now works for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.