Medical and Mental Health Service Provision Amongst Rural Health Clinics

As of March 2016, Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) billing under the All-Inclusive Rate payment system can only bill for one visit on a given day, even when more than one medically necessary face to face visit with an RHC practitioner takes place. The exceptions to this include when patients are seen for a medical and mental health visit on the same day; RHCs can bill separately for these visits. Stratifying the analyses by type of clinic (independent and provider-based RHCs affiliated with Critical Access Hospitals and Prospective Payment System hospitals) and geographic location, we addressed:

• The extent to which RHCs are providing same day medical and mental health services.
• The types of providers patients are seeing when they use same day medical and mental health services, versus different day(s).
• The socioeconomic, geographic, and health status characteristics (e.g., the most common medical and mental health diagnoses) amongst patients receiving these services on the same day, and versus different days.

There may be products related to this project; please contact the lead researcher for more information.