Bill > S1390

This bill aims to improve access to psychiatric collaborative care by establishing standardized reimbursement rates across various healthcare entities in Massachusetts. The bill defines the psychiatric collaborative care model as an integrated behavioral health service where a primary care team (including a provider and care manager) provides structured patient care in collaboration with a psychiatric consultant who reviews patient status and offers recommendations. The legislation requires multiple healthcare entities, including Medicaid, state employee health insurance, private insurers, hospital service plans, medical service agreements, and health maintenance organizations, to increase minimum payment rates for specific psychiatric collaborative care billing codes (99492, 99493, 99494, and G2214) to match or exceed the current Medicare Resource-Based Relative Value Scale physician fee schedule, with annual adjustments. Additionally, the bill mandates that these billing codes be removed from certain bundled payment rates and instead be reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis, which should help incentivize providers to use this collaborative care model and potentially improve mental health treatment accessibility and coordination.