23 Jun Critical Access Hospitals Role in Providing Behavioral Health Services
A report by the Government Accountability Office presents the challenges that critical access hospitals are facing in providing behavioral health care in rural communities. CAHs are often the principal or sole source of health care services in their communities, and often their ability to provide comprehensive behavioral health care services is limited for various reasons. One being the shortages of mental health care workers and inpatient psychiatric beds, which inhibits the quality of care in these hospitals. Another being that Medicare payments to CAHs are generally based on the cost of services, and don’t actually cover the cost, but inpatient psychiatric services are not eligible for cost-based payment. Hospital officials have mixed views on whether this sways decisions to offer impatient psychiatric care. To read more about the different views on how Medicare and other factors impact Behavioral Health Services in CAHs, click here. June 2023