New billing disclosure requirements take effect in 2022

American Psychological Association

Originally published 10 December 21

All mental health providers will need to provide estimated costs of services before starting treatment.

Beginning January 1, 2022, psychologists and other health care providers will be required by law to give uninsured and self-pay patients a good faith estimate of costs for services that they offer, when scheduling care or when the patient requests an estimate.

This new requirement was finalized in regulations issued October 7, 2021. The regulations implement part of the “No Surprises Act,” enacted in December 2020 as part of a broad package of COVID- and spending-related legislation. The act aims to reduce the likelihood that patients may receive a “surprise” medical bill by requiring that providers inform patients of an expected charge for a service before the service is provided. The government will also soon issue regulations requiring psychologists to give good faith estimates to commercial or government insurers, when the patient has insurance and plans to use it.

Psychologists working in group practices or larger organizational settings and facilities will likely receive direction from their compliance department or lawyers on how to satisfy this new requirement.

Read on for answers to FAQs that apply to practicing psychologists who treat uninsured or self-pay patients.

What providers and what services are subject to this rule?

“Provider” is defined broadly to include any health care provider who is acting within the scope of the provider’s license or certification under applicable state law. Psychologists meet that definition. 

The definition of “items and services” for which the good faith estimate must be provided is also broadly defined to encompass “all encounters, procedures, medical tests, … provided or assessed in connection with the provision of health care.” Services related to mental health substance use disorders are specifically included.

What steps do I need to take and when?

Psychologists are ethically obligated to discuss fees with patients upfront. This new requirement builds on that by adding more structure and specific timeframes for action.

The rest of the vital information is here.

Note: Compliance is not optional.  This is a new, consumer protection, health-care law in the United States.

The Big Change Coming to Just About Every Website on New Year’s Day

Aaron Mak
Slate.com
Originally published 30 Dec 19

Starting New Year’s Day, you may notice a small but momentous change to the websites you visit: a button or link, probably at the bottom of the page, reading “Do Not Sell My Personal Information.”

The change is one of many going into effect Jan. 1, 2020, thanks to a sweeping new data privacy law known as the California Consumer Privacy Act. The California law essentially empowers consumers to access the personal data that companies have collected on them, to demand that it be deleted, and to prevent it from being sold to third parties. Since it’s a lot more work to create a separate infrastructure just for California residents to opt out of the data collection industry, these requirements will transform the internet for everyone.

Ahead of the January deadline, tech companies are scrambling to update their privacy policies and figure out how to comply with the complex requirements. The CCPA will only apply to businesses that earn more than $25 million in gross revenue, that collect data on more than 50,000 people, or for which selling consumer data accounts for more than 50 percent of revenue. The companies that meet these qualifications are expected to collectively spend a total of $55 billion upfront to meet the new standards, in addition to $16 billion over the next decade. Major tech firms have already added a number of user features over the past few months in preparation. In early December, Twitter rolled out a privacy center where users can learn more about the company’s approach to the CCPA and navigate to a dashboard for customizing the types of info that the platform is allowed to use for ad targeting. Google has also created a protocol that blocks websites from transmitting data to the company, which users can take advantage of by downloading an opt-out add-on. Facebook, meanwhile, is arguing that it does not need to change anything because it does not technically “sell” personal information. Companies must at least set up a webpage and a toll-free phone number for fielding data requests.

The info is here.