HealthCare Perspective is excited to announce its acquisition by MostlyMedicaid. MostlyMedicaid is one of the premiere management consulting firms in the Medicaid space and the entire HealthCare Perspective team is excited to become part of the MostlyMedicaid family. We will continue to service our existing customers under this new ownership and look forward to continued growth and expansion in the future. Kris Vilamaa, Chief Executive Officer of HealthCare Perspective is now Partner and Chief Growth Officer for MostlyMedicaid and our entire team of consultants is working under the new merged companies.
Kris Vilamaa, HealthCare Perspective’s Owner and Steven Hedgepeth, Senior Consultant with HealthCare Perspective recently completed two trainings for The Ohio Council of Behavioral Health & Family Services Providers on the topics of “Building Person-Centered Collaboration through Negotiation” and “Demonstrating Person-Centered Services through Value-Based Contracting”. It was our pleasure to share with providers of children’s behavioral health services in the field the opportunities that abound in working with payers and partners to deliver more effective services as well as the opportunities that are coming in value-based contracting.
Please reach out to our team if you need further information on how to implement the recommendations we discussed and how to work in closer partnership with the payers and other partners in your community.
HealthCare Perspective and our friends at ZiaPartners were recently awarded a contract to assist the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services with their behavioral health crisis services work. Our team will be assisting the department with engaging stakeholders across the State of Ohio including ADAMH boards, providers and consumers to identify gaps in the service continuum and opportunities to close those gaps. We are excited to be engaged in this work and will be continuing to provide updates as we progress.
A number of these changes have been requested by advocates for years, if not decades. They are welcome changes and will be embraced by all who want to see better coordination of care for individuals with substance use disorders.
This is only one step in a process, as it is not the rule in response to the change passed in the CARES Act, this change was in the works prior to that law’s passage.
Since 2018, the state of Ohio has gone through major changes in healthcare with the implementation of behavioral health redesign and the carve-in of behavioral health services to managed care. The program was designed to increase access to client care for those seeking mental health and substance abuse treatment as well as improve accuracy in billing. We are expecting more changes in the coming year, with a new request for proposals coming out for managed care in Ohio. Using the right electronic health record (EHR) technology is key to the success of navigating through future changes in billing and other reporting requirements in Ohio. Streamline understands this need.
We are teaming up with Streamline, Kris Vilamaa, CEO of Healthcare Perspective will review the evolution of the Behavioral Health Redesign initiative. Kris will share his knowledge and trends from where Ohio was prior to the Initiative to where things stand today, what the future holds for Ohio, the impacts of COVID-19 to the Medicaid system, and how it will affect the state’s Medicaid finances.
Katie Morrow, VP of Compliance with Streamline, will walk you through key functionality within SmartCare™ EHR that is specific to Ohio Redesign. She’ll share the importance of using a system that is flexible and extensive to meet your needs now and into the future. Furthermore, she’ll dive into the SmartCare platform to show how it’s been successful in adapting their system to meet the needs of the Ohio Behavioral Health Redesign initiative.
HealthCare Perspective hopes everyone is following the guidance of their state and local health officials during this pandemic. Our mission has always been helping people who help people and we know there are so many helpers out there doing their part in response to COVID-19, many risking their health and lives in the process. We also know this is a time when mental health and substance use disorders could become exacerbated.
Here are some resources we have identified that may be helpful during this time and don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for any other information you are seeking during these challenging times. We are here to help.
Kristopher Vilamaa is featured in the podcast series “Critical Conversations in Medicaid”, discussing interoperability. The series is led off by the Director of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), Dr. Don Rucker. Episode 3 features our CEO. Kris discusses his perspective on interoperability and how we can best move forward on this important issue.
Kris Vilamaa of HealthCare Perspective on the February Mostly Medicaid News Roundtable
This past week, Kris Vilamaa participated, along with Dr. Craigan Gray, former Medicaid Director in North Carolina, and Clay Farris, Practice Lead at Mostly Medicaid, in the Monthly Mostly Medicaid News Roundtable. This is always an interesting discussion of the happenings this month in Medicaid and Kris was able to offer insights to hundreds of listeners on the latest news in the space. If you haven’t heard it and want to check it out see below or follow this link.
Interoperability Rule, Information Blocking and Sharp Critiques from the Secretary
I had the pleasure of attending the ONC Annual Meeting in Washington, DC last week. We heard from Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, ONC Director Dr. Donald Berwick and many other leaders in the field of health information technology.
Of course, the news making comments were around the response from Secretary Azar to the efforts by Epic and others to oppose the interoperability rule and specifically the information blocking prohibitions within that rule. The mood of the room was definitely one of strong support for patient access to their medical data. Many speakers touched on the rights of patients to get their information and the audience cheered on many of these comments.
The breakout sessions also covered many valuable and timely topics with expertise and excellent questions abounding. I always enjoy the opportunity to connect with partners, clients, thought leaders and friends who work in this space and ONC gave another excellent opportunity to do just that.
The 2020 ONC Annual Meeting will be in Washington, DC next week and we are looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new connections in the world of Health IT. The meeting is kicking off Monday the 27th with what looks to be an excellent discussion on Unique Patient IDs. We are also excited about the presentation on “Electronic Clinical Decision Support for Opioid Prescribing”, the sessions on Social Determinants, of Health, Health IT Strategies to Support Value-Based Payment Models and many others. If you are going to be in attendance, we hope to see you there!
