Article archive / April 1, 2012
Originally published: . Volume 3, No. 8. Source pages: 1, 16.
In a letter dated March 20, 2012, a group of Medicaid psychologists wrote to DHH Medicaid Director, Don Gregory, alerting him to concerns about the role of psychologists in the new Medicaid program. DHH had asked to hear more from psychologists about their concerns after some individuals had contacted officials regarding both quality of care and reimbursement issues.
An unidentified source provided the letter and told the Times that with the change to Magellan, not only are quality of care issues involved but reimbursement rates for therapy had been cut by 25 percent, and by 42 percent for psychological assessment.
In the March 20 letter by 25 psychologists, nine major issues were outlined. These were: “Doctoral-level psychologists provide a depth and breadth of services that cannot be provided for by Masters level clinicians
“Psychologists are the only behavioral health providers who are trained and qualified to conduct psychological evaluations independently “Psychological evaluations are often required to provide particular diagnoses, to differentially diagnose, and to assist in determining a proper course of treatment “Limiting or denying psychological testing compromises psychologists' standard of care
“Psychological services will no longer be available or accessible to many clients (who are not already within the systems involved in the Coordinated System of Care – CSoC) “Current reimbursement rates with the Magellan contract make it financially unfeasible to continue providing the same level of care
“The significant reduction in the fee for psychological testing, as well as the level of difficulty in getting approval for testing, would indicate that psychological testing is being discouraged by Magellan. This lowers overall quality of care and may end up costing the state more due to misdiagnosis and imprecise application of care
“The Magellan fee schedule was given to psychologists two weeks prior to the transition, which did not provide psychologists sufficient time to prepare for the gross reduction in reimbursement
“The ‘Making Medicaid Better’ website indicated that reimbursement rates would remain unchanged for a year after the transition.”
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