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New Medicare Billing Rules: What MFTs, MHCs, and IOP Providers Need to Know

Client Alert

Starting January 1, 2024, Medicare began covering services provided to Medicare beneficiaries by marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) services. With this change, Medicare has become the primary payer for these services. 

To allow providers time to enroll in Medicare, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and MyCare Ohio plans have continued to pay claims for these services for Medicaid enrollees with dual Medicare and Medicaid eligibility through June 30, 2024. Once providers are enrolled with Medicare, claims must be submitted to Medicare before the provider seeks cost-sharing reimbursement from Medicaid.

In compliance with these updates, ODM recently announced updates to its Medicare and Third-Party Liability Bypass List, effective July 1, 2024. The Bypass List, organized by procedure code, indicates which provider types may bypass Medicare and bill Medicaid directly. The list has been updated to reflect the small set of provider types now eligible to bypass Medicare.

Please contact BMD Healthcare Member Daphne Kackloudis at dlkackloudis@bmdllc.com or Attorney Jordan Burdick at jaburdick@bmdllc.com with any questions.


With Summer Vacation on the Way, Are Employees Still Entitled to Childcare Leave under EFMLEA?

Distance learning/homeschooling is finally starting to wrap-up for millions of students across America, a perhaps welcomed end for many, and summer vacation will soon begin. As summer vacation begins, your employees may have questions as to whether they qualify for child care leave under the expanded FMLA (“EFMLEA”), which many employees used over the last few months to receive partial compensation while they were away from work to care for their children. Now, employers with fewer than 500 employees must take note of additional guidance recently published concerning qualification for childcare leave.

Economic Impact Payment is Not Taxable Income

The IRS stated that the economic impact payments are not considered taxable income. Therefore, individuals will not owe tax on the amount of economic impact payment received.

Accommodating the Return to Work

It has been two months since Ohio declared coronavirus an emergency, and although it is clear things will not be fully back to "normal" anytime soon, the state of Ohio is rolling out the reopening process for businesses with a number of new guidelines and restrictions.

Relief for Employers from Unemployment Filings

From the last 7 weeks, the total number of unemployment filings in the U.S. now totals 33.5 million, an unprecedented number comparable to the number of filings during the Great Depression. Although some state and federal funds are being used to supplement the unemployment funds, providing additional compensation to the unemployed, employers will be responsible for a very large portion of the total funds being doled out to employees.

The Reasoning Behind Governor DeWine's $775 Million Budget Reduction

This week, Governor DeWine announced $775 million in cuts to the state operating budget due to financial repercussions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.