Resources

Client Alerts, News Articles, Blog Posts, & Multimedia

Everything you need to know about BMD and the industry.

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.


Banking and Cannabis: Bank Lending, The Next Frontier

A fortuitous combination of developments and circumstances present the banking and cannabis industries a large opportunity to enhance each of their respective bottom lines: conventional bank lending, payment processing, treasury management and other services, and bank administered SBA and revenue bond financing to cannabis businesses.

EKRA Updates: COVID-19 Testing, Employment Agreements, and More

Ever since the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”) was passed by Congress in 2018, we have been waiting to see how the law is interpreted and ultimately enforced. As a reminder, EKRA seeks to eliminate kickbacks in return for patient referrals to facilities that treat those overcoming addiction, such as recovery homes, clinical treatment centers, and laboratories. (NOTE: EKRA applies to all laboratories, not just those related to addiction treatment.) It is essentially an expansion of the Anti-Kickback Statute, which only applies to those services that are reimbursable through federal healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, to now also cover services reimbursable through private insurers.

New Interpretation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Rocks the Industry

It’s not lost on us that our interpretation of § 1692c(b) runs the risk of upsetting the status quo in the debt-collection industry. This quote from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal in its April 21, 2021 opinion from the case of Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc. is possibly the biggest understatement in the history of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. At a minimum, the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion has sent shockwaves and fear throughout multiple sectors of the financial services industry.

Construction Industry Trends and Predictions Through 2021 and Beyond: Insurance and Emerging Threats

A 2021 survey identified three key issues impacting the construction industry in 2021: (1) the financial health of contractors; (2) the continuing risk of the pandemic; and (3) technology driving productivity, but also increasing the risk of cybersecurity threats. With this backdrop, insurance premiums in the construction industry are generally on the rise in 2021.

Senate Bill 39 Allows Up to $100 Million in Business Incentive Credits for Transformational Mixed-Use Development in the State of Ohio

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 39 on December 29, 2020, which created a new tax credit applicable to insurance premium taxes. This tax credit is designed to provide funding for a transformational mixed- use development or “TMUD” in the state of Ohio.