#mental and behavioral health billing service

[plutushealthinc]

Maximizing Your Practice's Growth with Accurate Mental Health Billing Services

Are you sick of investigating unpaid and rejected claims? Are you trying to find a mental health billing company that can adhere to payer and regional regulations? Go no further than Plutus Health, a reliable partner to handle your revenue cycle management (RCM) services for mental health.

With one-click help available 24/7* 365 days a year, Plutus Health is a group of AAPC-trained and certified mental health coders who offer end-to-end mental health billing solutions. As your go-to billing and coding experts for mental health, we promise to streamline your billing procedures, improve your coding and billing system, and carry out thorough pre-billing audits to decrease denials.

Because of the many types of treatments provided to patients, as well as the insurance plans, deductibles, and other differences by state, payer, and plan, mental health billing can get complicated. With decades of experience in the field of mental health coding and billing, Plutus Health promises to make your coding and billing experience more successful and less stressful.

Our group of certified coders works on your claims and consistently delivers the outcomes your practice needs. We submit accurate claims with the utmost care in order to increase your practice's first-pass ratio. Our mental health billing professionals are experienced in creating and putting into practice successful procedures that will increase our clients' financial viability. You can count on a hands-on approach and a dedication to producing top-notch results.

The top mental health billing insurance denials, such as incorrect CPT codes, provider not enrolled, missing/invalid information, excluded or non-covered charges, billing to the wrong payer, duplicate billing, overlapping claims, and contractual obligation, are handled by Plutus Health with guaranteed results.

The average turnaround time for claims at mental health practices has decreased to 48 hours, and their share of clean claims has increased to 95%. The average (NCPR) collections have achieved a staggering reimbursement of 98%, while automated patient payment collections have increased to 35%. lowered the average amount of denials for mental health practices to 5%, and the average amount of time it takes for mental health practices working with Plutus Health to receive payment is now 25 days.

At Plutus Health, we recognize that billing for mental health services presents significant difficulties that could jeopardize your practice's ability to make a profit. We can assist you in streamlining patient collections and offering patient statement services that involve patients and provide them a better experience to receive faster payment for their obligations. Before to the start of services, we also examine the patients' benefits and eligibility, and patient collectibles like co-pays and deductibles are collected during the patient visit before the claim is submitted and the payer is paid.

Our mental health billing solutions are tailored to the needs of your practice and provide you with a range of services that are intended to improve your revenue cycle management. Our team of experts can efficiently handle mental health medical billing, coding, and collections for mental health service providers because to their 15+ years of experience in the RCM industry. Plutus Health wants to be your revenue cycle management partner by streamlining and improving the coding and billing process for mental health services. Speak to our mental health billing and coding specialists today to set up an expert conversation, and don't compromise on your income success.

[suttoneliasen13]

Navigating the Credentialing Landscape: A Guide to Finding the Best Insurance Panel Credentialing Services

Welcome to a comprehensive guide on navigating the intricate world of insurance panel credentialing services. Whether you're searching for insurance credentialing services in your local area or looking to understand the payer credentialing process, this article aims to shed light on the essential aspects of credentialing for medical providers. From health insurance credentialing to group health credentialing, we will explore the ins and outs of ensuring that your practice is properly credentialed with various insurance panels. Additionally, we will discuss the significance of credentialing documents, healthcare credentials, and highlight the best companies and software to streamline your credentialing process. Join us on this journey to discover the best practices and services in the realm of medical credentialing.

Importance of Insurance Credentialing

Insurance credentialing plays a crucial role in ensuring that healthcare providers are authorized to offer services to patients covered by various insurance plans. By undergoing EHR and EMR software for small clinics , providers demonstrate their qualifications, experience, and compliance with industry standards. ABA credentialing for behavioral therapists helps in building trust with insurance companies but also ensures smooth reimbursement for services rendered.

For providers, being credentialed with insurance panels opens up opportunities to expand their patient base and reach a wider audience. It allows them to accept different insurance plans, making their services accessible to a more diverse group of patients. Additionally, being credentialed can lead to increased credibility and recognition within the industry, enhancing the reputation of the provider and their practice.

On the patient side, insurance credentialing plays a significant role in ensuring that individuals have access to quality healthcare services. By working with credentialed providers, patients can trust that they are receiving care from professionals who meet the necessary standards and requirements set by insurance companies. This process helps maintain the quality of care provided and enhances overall patient satisfaction.

Choosing the Best Credentialing Company

When selecting a credentialing company, it's essential to consider their level of expertise in insurance credentialing services. Look for a provider that has a solid track record in navigating the payer credentialing process efficiently and effectively. Ensure that the company is well-versed in credentialing for medical providers and has experience with various health insurance plans.

Furthermore, prioritize credentialing companies that offer comprehensive services tailored to your specific needs. Opt for a provider that not only handles insurance panel credentialing but also assists with group health credentialing and ensures that all necessary credentialing documents are in order. This holistic approach can streamline the credentialing process and save you valuable time and resources.

Lastly, don't overlook the importance of technology in credentialing services. Consider partnering with a company that utilizes the best credentialing software available. How to renew mental health insurance credentialing can enhance accuracy, speed, and organization in the credentialing process, ultimately leading to smoother health care credentials management. Choose a company that combines expertise with cutting-edge software for optimal results.

Efficient Credentialing Process

When it comes to navigating the credentialing landscape, finding efficient insurance credentialing services near you is crucial for healthcare providers. A streamlined process for insurance credentialing can alleviate administrative burdens and ensure quicker participation in insurance panels. By partnering with a reputable company experienced in payer credentialing, providers can expedite the credentialing medical process and start accepting insurance plans promptly.

Health insurance credentialing plays a vital role in ensuring providers can offer their services to a wide range of patients. With the right insurance credentialing service handling the provider insurance credentialing, healthcare professionals can focus on delivering quality care instead of getting bogged down in paperwork. Group health credentialing is simplified when working with experts who understand the ins and outs of credentialing for medical providers, making the entire process efficient and hassle-free.

The key to a successful credentialing process lies in choosing the best credentialing company equipped with top-notch credentialing software. This ensures that all necessary credentialing documents are handled promptly and accurately, leading to seamless health care credentials verification. By leveraging the best credentialing services available, providers can enhance their practice's efficiency and reputation while maximizing participation in insurance panels.

[beachbeck88]

Mastering Medical Credentialing: A Comprehensive Guide for Providers

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, mastering medical credentialing is essential for providers looking to navigate the complexities of insurance panels and billing services. From ensuring ABA credentialing for new therapists to establishing credibility with insurance companies, the process of credentialing plays a pivotal role in the success of medical practices. Understanding the nuances of medical billing and credentialing services, as well as the intricacies of insurance credentialing, is key for providers looking to streamline their operations and optimize their revenue cycle. By partnering with a reputable medical credentialing company, providers can benefit from expert guidance and support in navigating the credentialing process.

Importance of Medical Credentialing

Medical credentialing is a crucial process that ensures healthcare providers meet industry standards and requirements for delivering quality care. By undergoing thorough credentialing, providers demonstrate their expertise, qualifications, and professionalism to patients and insurance companies alike.

Credentialing helps to maintain patient safety by verifying that healthcare professionals possess the necessary training and skills to provide competent care. It also allows providers to participate in insurance networks, enabling patients to access their services with ease and financial coverage.

For healthcare providers, being properly credentialed opens doors to new opportunities and partnerships within the industry. It enhances their reputation and credibility, ultimately leading to increased patient trust and satisfaction in the care they receive.

Choosing the Right Credentialing Company

When looking for a credentialing company, it's essential to consider their experience and track record. Best EHR and EMR software for hospitals with a proven history of successful credentialing for medical providers can give you peace of mind knowing that your paperwork is in capable hands.

Another crucial factor to evaluate is the range of services offered by the credentialing company. Opt for a company that provides comprehensive services, including medical insurance credentialing, billing services, and assistance with letters of intent for insurance credentialing. This full-service approach can streamline the credentialing process and ensure all aspects are handled efficiently.

Lastly, make sure to inquire about the company's communication practices. Clear and prompt communication is key when it comes to navigating the credentialing process smoothly. Choose a company that maintains open lines of communication, keeping you updated on the progress of your credentialing application and addressing any concerns promptly.

Maximizing Insurance Credentialing Opportunities

When seeking to expand your medical practice and increase your patient base, it is essential to explore all available insurance credentialing opportunities. By partnering with reputable credentialing companies, you can streamline the process and ensure that your practice is credentialed with a wide range of insurance panels. How to understand ABA billing will not only enhance your practice's reputation but also attract more patients who are covered by various insurance plans.

One key aspect of maximizing insurance credentialing opportunities is to stay updated on the latest requirements and regulations set forth by insurance companies. Credentialing with insurance companies can sometimes be a complex and time-consuming process, but by staying informed and organized, you can navigate through the credentialing process more efficiently. Additionally, working with experienced credentialing services can significantly simplify the process and help you avoid common pitfalls.

Lastly, it is crucial to maintain clear and accurate documentation throughout the credentialing process. Providing complete and up-to-date information about your medical practice, qualifications, and insurance paneling preferences will expedite the credentialing process and increase your chances of being credentialed with multiple insurance companies. Remember that thorough documentation and attention to detail are key to successfully maximizing insurance credentialing opportunities for your practice.

[lohmannsteen49]

Navigating the World of Insurance Credentialing: A Comprehensive Guide

Welcome to the complex world of insurance credentialing, where providers navigate a web of processes to ensure they are credentialed with various insurance companies. From understanding ABA credentialing for new therapists to compiling credentialing documents, the journey can be overwhelming. Finding the right insurance credentialing services near you is crucial for a seamless experience in joining insurance panels and receiving reimbursements for your services.

Health insurance credentialing plays a vital role in the healthcare industry, determining whether providers meet the standards to deliver quality care to patients covered by specific insurance plans. As providers Best EHR and EMR software for hospitals into the intricacies of credentialing for medical services, they must identify the best credentialing companies and software to streamline the often time-consuming and paperwork-heavy process. Whether you are a solo practitioner or part of a group health practice, mastering the art of insurance credentialing is essential for a successful practice in today's healthcare landscape.

Importance of Insurance Credentialing

In the world of healthcare, insurance credentialing plays a vital role in ensuring that providers are properly qualified and authorized to offer services to patients. This process involves verifying the credentials and qualifications of healthcare professionals, including education, training, licensure, and experience. By going through this rigorous process, insurance companies are able to maintain high standards of care delivery and protect patients' interests.

Insurance credentialing also benefits healthcare providers by allowing them to participate in insurance networks and expand their patient base. Being credentialed with various insurance plans enables providers to accept a wider range of patients and streamline the billing and reimbursement process. This not only increases accessibility to care but also helps providers build a reputable practice within the healthcare community.

Moreover, proper insurance credentialing is essential for ensuring that healthcare providers are in compliance with industry regulations and standards. By staying up-to-date with credentialing requirements, providers can prevent any delays or issues in receiving payments for their services. It also helps in establishing trust and credibility with patients, as they are more likely to seek care from providers who are credentialed with their insurance plans.

Choosing the Right Credentialing Service

Firstly, when looking for insurance credentialing services near me, it's important to consider the specific needs of your practice or organization. Assess the size of your provider network, the volume of applications you anticipate processing, and the level of support required throughout the credentialing process.

Next, evaluate the features and capabilities offered by different credentialing companies. Look for services that streamline the payer credentialing process, provide comprehensive credentialing for medical providers, and offer expertise in navigating the complexities of insurance panel credentialing.

Lastly, seek out recommendations and reviews to identify the best credentialing companies in the industry. Consider factors such as customer satisfaction, efficiency in processing credentialing documents, and the overall reputation of the company. By opting for Best practices for mental health credentialing or software available, you can ensure a smooth and successful credentialing experience for your healthcare practice.

Best Practices for Successful Credentialing

When pursuing successful credentialing, it is crucial to thoroughly research and select the best credentialing company that aligns with your specific needs and requirements. Additionally, ensuring that the chosen company has a solid reputation and track record in the realm of insurance credentialing services near you.

Moreover, maintaining clear and open communication with your selected credentialing service provider is paramount. Regularly providing them with any necessary documents and information in a timely manner can streamline the credentialing process and prevent any unnecessary delays or setbacks.

Lastly, staying informed about the latest updates and changes in the insurance credentialing landscape is key to successful credentialing. Being proactive in understanding the evolving requirements and regulations can help you navigate the credentialing process smoothly and efficiently.

[outsourcingmedicalbills]

Benefits Of Hiring HIPAA Compliant Billing Company For Your Radiology Center

The  medical billing services at your radiology center can get monotonous and become an overwhelming burden, which seems to never come to an end. Due to the time-consuming secondary processes, the core operations which are the pillars to grow the firm may be put on hold. This sounds super-scary for a radiology center who has a growing vision and mission.

The facility can save a lot of time and money by outsourcing medical billing and coding to a HIPAA compliant billing company . In no small measure, most healthcare facilities are always busy. Everyone is constantly busy, in-house resources of your practice juggle many responsibilities, and all hands are needed to execute crucial tasks. However, this is fair enough because they are required to handle the tasks they are good at. This is exactly wherein a medical billing company jumps into the picture.

Let’s glance through the benefits of hiring a HIPAA Compliant Billing Company for your Radiology Center, shall we?

1. Access To Professionals With Experience

The outsourcing services providers already have a knowledgeable & expert team with a wealth of experience in the area of medical billing and coding. In no small measure, they would work as efficiently as possible.

2. Enhanced Revenues

By outsourcing your medical billing requirements to a third-party service provider, your company can boost its return on investment. This is because your overall revenue would be reduced by the expenses associated with hiring, training, putting up an infrastructure for the staff, and other maintenance charges. By timely submitting claims with the denials, the outsourcing businesses’ medical billing professionals maximize and streamline your revenue management cycle.

3. Lower Labor Prices

Companies often spend between 30 and 45 percent of collections on billing procedures. You can cut back on unnecessary expenses and save a sizable sum of money by outsourcing medical billing. These services are typically provided at reasonable prices by medical billing companies.

4. Revisions to Regulations

Laws governing medical billing are continually changing. Every medical setting finds it difficult and time-consuming to keep up with these changes. The billing business will handle all of these regulations if you outsource medical billing. You can leave the revisions and regulations to the exports and take care of what your medical billing does the best- patient care!

5. Covering insurance hassles

Numerous medical billing codes exist, in addition to constantly evolving insurance payor-pushed policies and processes. Your clinic will save a lot of time and effort by working with a medical billing services partner. It makes logical sense to delegate these duties to devoted medical billing and coding specialists since they will be held fully responsible for completing the work on a daily basis.

6. Substantially boosts your net receipts

A professional medical billing company must constantly be able to raise their client’s net collections. Depending on how many flaws are discovered in your current RCM, these increases typically range from 5 to 50%. The immediate profit boost provided by the higher net collections will more than offset the billing fees levied by the outsourced medical billing provider.

Most clients invest their excess income in expanding their businesses or raising employee bonuses.

7. Expedites collections and permits predictable cash flows

What occurs when medical billing is your whole focus? Certified professional coders are used by reputable medical billing businesses to scrub claims before delivering them to payors. As a result, claims are processed more quickly, there are fewer denials, and your outstanding AR days are reduced.

Your objective should be to have fewer than 30 days of outstanding AR days. A more dependable and predictable cash flow will always result from reducing your outstanding AR days.

8. Accepting full responsibility

The majority of practices have understanding of medical billing flaws because they recognise that their billing staff is frequently distracted by patient care-related tasks. As a result, stakeholders frequently accept justifications and put up with subpar billing results. With an expert medical billing business, there are no delays and no room for excuses because the main objective is to maximize revenue in the least period of time.

9. No learning curves

Using a medical billing service won’t need you to pick up any new skills, and your outsourcing partner will make the changes go smoothly. In fact, because the billing service experts working on your account have little to no learning curves, your facility will soon experience optimal outcomes.

10. It expands your available clinical space

By outsourcing your medical bills, you can turn unproductive space into money-making space like exam rooms or an on-site lab. Due to space limitations, this change may result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in more revenue that could not previously be realized.

Wrapping Up

It has never been more easy and winning to collaborate with an outsourced medical billing company like Medisys Data Solutions as they pinpoint the intricate and challenging hassles with sheer expertise. Your revenues will rise, your days in A/R will decrease, and Medisys Data Solutions will keep you and your staff updated on all regulatory developments that will affect your capacity to fully utilize your clinical efforts. Why wait? We’re waiting on the other side of a better revenue management cycle and increased profits! Come let’s make this big, shall we?

[scottfeldberg]

Mental health is emotional or physiological wellbeing. Mental health illnesses are depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. However, mental health is a taboo subject. In fact, there are many who believe that one can cure mental health without the help of a psychiatrist or psychologist. Moreover, there are many who live in denial of mental illness. In such circumstances, state budget cuts seem to add more fuel to the fire. Let us understand these budget cuts and their impact on Mental Health Medication Management In detail in this blog.

[otherkinnews]

Will Oklahoma Call Animal Control on Students?

This article was originally posted to the Otherkin News blog on Dreamwidth.

Content warnings: Rated G. Sexism against transgender people. Adults who cause danger or distress for children by outing them as transgender or showing them animal bloodsports.

Summary: In 2023, Republicans in the US began to propose laws (bills) that would be against furries or people who identify as animals. They continue to do so in 2024. The first two such bills of this year are Oklahoma House Bill 3084 (OK HB 3084) and Mississippi House Bill 176 (MS HB 176). Read on for information about these bills from this and last year, the urban legend that inspired them, what may happen next, and what you can do. This five page article (plus references) is a twelve minute read.

Humphrey’s anti-furry bill in Oklahoma

Republican Representative Justin Humphrey (he/him) specializes in writing bills that are intentionally bizarre so they will attract attention, and then cleaning them up later so that they will pass into law. On December 6, he wrote OK HB 3084, as its only sponsor. He prefiled it on January 17. It was introduced for its first reading on February 5. Here is the bill on Oklahoma’s official site, and on the third-party site Legiscan. It proposes a new law, which would read in full: 

“Students who purport to be an imaginary animal or animal species, or who engage in anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries at school shall not be allowed to participate in school curriculum or activities. The parent or guardian of a student in violation of this section shall pick the student up from the school, or animal control services shall be contacted to remove the student.”

In Humphrey’s interview with Rolling Stone about this, he specifically said that he wrote the furry bill in response to having heard about students using litter boxes in school. The Stone pointed out that that’s an urban legend that never happened at all, but he thinks it’s happened sometimes, if not widespread. He said that “furry” is the common name for a “mental illness” and “sexual habit,” and that there’s an “actual psychological term” for it, which he didn’t say because he found it “very, very difficult to pronounce” (Ehrlich, 2024). 

He probably was referring to “anthropomorphic behavior,” which he wrote in his bill text. That isn’t a psychological term or a mental illness, it’s about cartoon characters. The furry fandom uses “anthropomorphic animals” as a synonym for furries, fictional talking animal characters. “Anthropomorphic” often gets misused to mean “animal-like,” but its literal meaning is “human-like.” Humphrey’s wording would suffice to expel all students from a school: kids who act like animals and kids who act like humans. He likely based his bill on last year’s dead Oklahoma Senate Bill 943, which he didn’t write, but which also used the word.

Humphrey’s bill is the first that says to call animal control on furries. Would they refuse to pick up a student, or could this really cause students to be arrested and detained? Animal control is dictated by the local government (Bradshaw and Vankavage). Sometimes it may be outsourced to contractors who wouldn’t respond to this bizarre request, but in many cases it’s managed by local law enforcement. For example, one Oklahoman city ordinance says that all its animal control officers who are not already part of law enforcement “possess all authority of a police officer of the city for enforcing these animal regulations” (Vinita city code 2005 5-3-19). Humphrey explained that this part is a joke that he doesn’t intend to stick to, though, saying, 

“if you want to treat these people as actual animals, you call animal control. I’ll be happy to rewrite the language [to replace ‘animal control’ with mental health professionals]. But right now, I put that in there to make the point. A sarcastic point” (Erhlich, 2024). 

(Bracketed text in original.) Introducing a bill with an absurd part and then deleting or altering it to let it pass is a tactic that we see in one of last year’s bills, and it’s a favorite tactic of Humphrey’s.

The day after Humphrey filed his furry bill, he called it his “crazy” bill, saying, “I’ve laughed and said, well, we ought to neuter them and vaccinate them and send them to the pound." KOCO News reported, “Humphrey said although it may not become law, he wants to bring attention to what he called a problem” (Jones, 2024). Perhaps, like the urban legend that inspired it, the bill’s purpose is to attract attention by being intentionally absurd. It makes up a guy to get mad at: it describes an invented situation that has never happened, then recommends penalties for that imaginary situation, and those penalties themselves are something that may not be realistically carried out, or which would have absurdly high-stakes consequences. Humphrey’s furry bill doesn’t mention transgender people, but he wrote it in reference to an urban legend that parodies transgender people. Humphrey has also made many public remarks against transgender people, and he has supported anti-transgender bills (Murphy, 2021).

Other Representatives believe he may have intended for the absurdity of his furry bill to distract attention from more serious bills. On the same day that he prefiled this, he also filed a racially discriminatory bill about Oklahomans of Hispanic descent, House Bill 3133 (Jones, 2024).

Part of Humphrey’s amusement here is that he has a beef with animal control. In addition to his hostilities toward LGBTQ people, one of his long-term goals is to reduce the legal penalties for cockfighting from felony to misdemeanor. Throughout the US, this blood sport is illegal, and it is a federal crime to bring a child under age sixteen to any animal fighting events (Humane Society). Humphrey approves of allowing children there, saying, “You’re dang skippy I’ll take my kid to a chicken fighting before I’m gonna take them to see a drag queen” (Leigh, 2023).

This year’s anti-transgender and anti-furry bill in Mississippi

Introduced on January 17, MS HB 176 would require schools to out transgender students to parents, and to allow faculty to not accommodate any student who 

“identif[ies] at school as a gender or pronoun that does not align with the child's sex on their birth certificate, other official records, sex assigned at birth, or identifying as an animal species, extraterrestrial being or inanimate object.” 

As the nonprofit journalism site Mississippi Free Press noted, “There are no known incidents of Mississippi schoolchildren identifying as aliens or inanimate objects, but the idea of children identifying as animals may stem from an unsubstantiated urban myth about litter boxes that spread among Republican officials in recent years” (Harrison, 2024). Here is the bill on Mississippi’s official site, and on the third-party site Legiscan. The bill’s seven authors are all Republican Representatives: Charles “Chuck” Blackwell (main author), William Arnold, Randy Boyd, Larry Byrd, Dan Eubanks, Jimmy Fondren, and Donnie Scoggin. In the same month, Blackwell also sponsored the bill MS HB 303 (about digital currencies) and co-sponsored the bill MS HR 17 (for deporting undocumented immigrants back to Mexico) (TrackBill). 

An overview of last year’s anti-furry bills

Important background for what’s happening is that last year in the US, sexists introduced more than five hundred bills to limit the rights of transgender people (Reed, 2023). Four of those were also against furries or people who identify as animals. They were mainly against the rights of transgender students, and also opposed “a student's perception of being any animal species other than human” (North Dakota House Bill 1522) or “anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries” (Oklahoma Senate Bill 943). 

The text of the third, Indiana Statehouse Bill 380, only talked about dress codes and “disruptive behavior.” Later, this was amended to say “distractive behavior.” However, its writer said that it was to prevent “imitating or were behaving like a furry” (Herron, 2023). The bill’s unspoken real aim was to prevent transgender students from dressing as their gender. 

The fourth was a proposed amendment to Montana Senate Bill 544. It would have changed this internet censorship bill to also censor “acts of transgenderism,” which it defines as “a person being in the mental state of believing the person is transgender or transspecies” (Scribner, Shepard, and Sol, 2023). The word “transgenderism” is a dogwhistle used by people who oppose transgender rights. “Transspecies” is not typically thought of as a subset of it.

By the end of 2023, what came of those four bills? The line about animals was later deleted from the North Dakota bill, though it was still anti-transgender (Scribner, March 14, 2023). It passed on May 18, becoming law that will oppose the rights of transgender students. Last year’s Oklahoma bill died in committee. The Indiana bill passed on May 4, and will prohibit “distractive behavior” in schools. The Montana bill passed on May 19, and it’s still a clumsy plan for internet censorship, but the final text did not use the amendment that talked about transgender or transspecies (Legiscan). So far, no laws have passed with texts that mention anything along the lines of furries or identifying as nonhuman.

What are anti-furry bills really about?

These bills happened because of an urban legend. In parody of transgender students, Republicans made up a story that schools have litter boxes for students who identify as cats. Fact-checking site Snopes has been debunking this legend (Palma), as has Reuters Fact Check. This panel by a historian gives very detailed information about the legend’s development (Chimeras, 2022). Republicans imply through this legend that letting transgender students use the restroom that matches their gender identity would be as ridiculous as giving litter boxes to students who identify as animals.

What are the facts about people who identify as animals, if any exist? Surveys of the furry fandom show that most people who call themselves furries do not identify as animals (Plante et al, 2016, pp. 113-114). However, there are real people who sincerely identify as animals or nonhuman beings. Many call themselves therianthropes or otherkin (Scribner, 2023, “Simple introduction”). Sexists use the word “transspecies” to parody transgender people. However, a few transgender people call a nonhuman aspect of themselves transspecies (Chimeras, 2021). None of them did the things in schools that the urban legend says, so the legend isn’t true, and the legend wasn’t created in response to them. The threatening intent of the legend and bills is toward transgender people, but could cause trouble for furries and people who identify as animals.

Are there people who think of their gender identity as something nonhuman, and is that based on or part of the concept of being transgender? Transgender people who don’t feel they are a woman or man only or all the time have a nonbinary gender. Some people feel so different from a woman or man that they say their gender is something other than human. Since 2014, some call themselves xenogender, meaning “alien gender.” This can be a metaphor for something difficult to put into words, and they do not necessarily think of themselves as literally nonhuman, though some do. Surveys show that most nonbinary people define their gender in relation to being a woman or man; only 1.7% of nonbinary people call themselves xenogender or a variation on that word, and no other xenogender identity comes close to common (Gender Census, 2023). However, identifying as nonhuman is not inherently a form of being transgender, and was not developed based on the concept of being transgender.

What happens next for Humphrey’s anti-furry bill?

On February 5 and 6, it had its first and second readings, and it was referred to the House Rules Committee to read it next. That Committee has seven Republicans and two Democrats (State of Oklahoma). We’ll see if they let it die the same as last year’s Oklahoma bill, or if they vote for it to progress toward passing in some form. Remember the aforementioned interview where Humphrey said he doesn’t expect it to pass. Its purpose is to make “a sarcastic point” and attract attention away from other bills.

What happens next for the Mississippi bill? 

The day it was introduced, MS HB 176 was referred to the Mississippi House Education Committee and still waits for them to vote on it. Given that the Committee has a majority of Republicans (according to its government site and legislation tracking site, BillTracker.com), and the bill’s similarity to the North Dakota bill that passed last year with the portion about non-humans deleted, they’re likely to pass this bill in some form. The director of the Mississippi branch of the Human Rights Campaign, Rob Hill (he/him), said, 

“We’ve not seen this kind of bill in Mississippi before, and we hope that our leaders will resist another effort to stigmatize and isolate transgender and nonbinary youth and their peers [...] This is a very dangerous bill. It’s dangerous for the lives of youth … and it further perpetuates Mississippi’s image of being a place of discrimination” (Harrison, 2024).

What can you do?

Page Shepard (they/he), House of Chimeras (they/them), and I presented a panel about the bills last August. In the recording of our panel, skip to the timestamp 23:44 to hear what ordinary people can do about bad bills. In the written script of our lecture, see Slides 21 through 25.

About the author of this article

I’m Orion Scribner (they/them), and I’ve been writing and researching as an alterhuman community historian for more than ten years. I’m a moderator on Otherkin News, a volunteer-run blog about current events relevant to the alterhuman communities. My partner N. Noel Sol (she/her) did some editing in this document, especially in regard to animal control. Thanks for proofreading by my partner system the House of Chimeras (they/them), and my colleague Xylanth (it/its). I never write articles with the assistance of procedural generation or so-called artificial intelligence (AI), and that type of content isn’t allowed on Otherkin News.

References

BillTrack50. "Mississippi House Education Committee." https://www.billtrack50.com/committee/4245#billReferral 

Bradshaw, A. and L. Vankavage. “The Role of Local Government in Animal Control.” Humane Animal Control.  https://resources.bestfriends.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Chapter%202_Role%20of%20Local%20Government%20in%20Animal%20Control.pdf?bG9ehcLSrIR08a1N_X1wbpYDzgy8_orb 

Vinita city code 2005 5-3-19: ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER; IMPOUNDMENT OF ANIMALS; REDEMPTION; SALE; EUTHANASIA. American Legal Publishing. https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/vinitaok/latest/vinita_ok/0-0-0-2467

Ehrlich, Brenna (January 17, 2024). “Students Dressed as Furries Could be Collected by Animal Control if New Oklahoma Bill Passes.” Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/furries-school-bill-animal-control-1234948434/ 

Jones, Alyse (January 18, 2024). "How many newly filed bills will become law in Oklahoma?". KOCO-TV. https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-new-filed-bills/46431213 

House of Chimeras (Aug. 12, 2022). "Litter Boxes in School Bathrooms: Dissecting the Alt-Right’s Current Moral Panic." https://houseofchimeras.neocities.org/Lectures

House of Chimeras (Aug. 14, 2021). "The Use and Misuse of The Term Transspecies." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSyXSesyzw 

House of Chimeras, O. Scribner, and P. Shepard (2023). “Litter Box Hoax 2: Legislature Boogaloo.” OtherCon 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXy_ctC4Jc&t=1425s 

Harrison, Heather (January 19, 2024). “Teachers Required to Out Trans Students to Families Under Proposed Mississippi Bill.” Mississippi Free Press. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/39193/teachers-required-to-out-trans-students-to-families-under-proposed-mississippi-bill 

Herron, Arika (Jan. 26, 2023). "Indiana lawmaker targets furries in schools. Schools say there's no problem." IndyStar. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/26/indiana-statehouse-bill-targets-furries-schools-say-no-problem/69840839007/ Archived Jan. 26, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230126101035/https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/26/indiana-statehouse-bill-targets-furries-schools-say-no-problem/69840839007/

Humane Society Legislative Fund (February 4, 2014). “Farm Bill Strengthens Animal Fighting Law, Maintains State Farm Animal Protection Laws.” The Humane Society of the United States. https://web.archive.org/web/20141025151239/http://www.humanesociety.org/news/news_briefs/2014/02/farm_bill_passed_020414.html 

Legiscan, IN SB 380. https://legiscan.com/IN/bill/SB0380/2023 

Legiscan, MT SB 544. https://legiscan.com/MT/bill/SB544/2023

Legiscan, MS HB 176. https://legiscan.com/MS/bill/HB176/2024 

Legiscan, ND HB 1522. https://legiscan.com/ND/bill/HB1522/2023 

Legiscan, OK HB 3084. https://legiscan.com/OK/bill/HB3084/2024 

Legiscan, OK SB 943. https://legiscan.com/OK/bill/SB943/2023

Leigh, Sunny (April 15, 2023). "Bill to reduce penalties for animal fighting shut down in Oklahoma Senate". KTUL. https://ktul.com/news/local/bill-to-reduce-penalties-for-animal-fighting-shut-down-in-oklahoma-senate-cockfighting-chicken-fighting-dogfighting-humphrey-kunzweiler-humane-society-animal-wellness-gamefowl-lawmakers Content warning for animal cruelty. This article goes into some detail about the more criminal and violent extremes of animal fighting.

Mississippi Legislation. House of Representatives Committee Listing. https://www.legislature.ms.gov/committees/house-committees/ 

Murphy, Sean (15 April 2021). "GOP Oklahoma lawmaker criticized for transgender comments". AP. https://apnews.com/article/legislature-oklahoma-bills-oklahoma-city-5db54da2949c3398d3fc7c53714bdc36 

Palma, Bethania. (January 30, 2023). “How Furries Got Swept Up in Anti-Trans 'Litter Box' Rumors.” Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/ Archived on March 30, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230330232007/https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/

Plante, C., S. Reysen, S. Roberts, and K. Gerbasi (2016). FurScience! A summary of five years of research from the International Anthropomorphic Research Project. FurScience: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ISBN: 978-0-9976288-0-7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304540208_FurScience_A_summary_of_five_years_of_research_from_the_International_Anthropomorphic_Research_Project The relevant section of the book is also on the project’s official web page here: https://furscience.com/research-findings/therians/7-2-animal-identification/ 

Reed, Erin (December 30, 2023). “Erin's 2024 Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Map.” Erin in the Morning. https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/erins-2024-anti-trans-legislative

Reuters Fact Check (October 18, 2022). “Fact Check-No evidence of schools accommodating ‘furries’ with litter boxes.” https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT Archived February 13, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230213110524/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT

Scribner, O. (March 14, 2023). “A formerly anti-alterhuman but still anti-transgender bill will be heard Wednesday.” https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/88744.html 

Scribner, O. (April 13, 2023). “A Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes: Version 2.4.7.” The Works of Orion Scribner. https://web.archive.org/web/20230603220035/http://frameacloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/simpleintro.pdf 

Scribner, O. (February 22, 2023). “In US, three anti-transgender bills also oppose alterhumans; similar recent Supreme Court cases.” Otherkin News. https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/86709.html 

Scribner, O., P. Shepard, and N. N. Sol (April 24, 2023). “Proposed amendment to Montana net censorship bill would ban transgender and transspecies people.” Otherkin News. https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/89561.html 

State of Oklahoma House of Representatives. Oklahoma House Rules Committee. https://www.okhouse.gov/committees/house/rules 

TrackBill. “Mississippi Rep. Charles Blackwell (R).” https://trackbill.com/legislator/mississippi-representative-charles-blackwell/981-27365/ 

[moments-on-film]

Moments on Film: Carmy and Inappropriate Affect

Among Carmen’s many physical and psychological issues due to his undiagnosed PTSD from various sources and depression, he also displays inappropriate affect, a psychological term which I will describe below. Carmy has exhibited behavior that suggests inappropriate affect from the first episode in season 1, to the last episode in season 2.

The first time I noticed this, it was in the scene where Richie comes to Carmy’s aid in 1x1. Richie comes outside and essentially rescues Carmy from being beaten up by the Ballbreaker players waiting to come inside for the tournament. Richie is funny in the scene—to us as audience members—but it’s not intentional and Richie is actually very serious and pissed, exhibited by the fact that he lays into Carmy in the next scene. Yet in the scene outside, Carmy smiles and is about to laugh. Why? Perhaps he finds Richie funny, or the situation ridiculous, but from what we have seen of his personality profile so far, Carmy is a very serious person so this behavior feels very sudden and odd. Richie literally just shot off a gun. It is not an appropriate response to the situation.

According to Better Health, inappropriate affect is defined as:

“a condition where one's emotional actions or displays do not logically relate to a situation or stimuli. Common examples of inappropriate affect include smiling at the news of a tragedy or remaining unemotional during a very emotional situation.

When mental health professionals are looking for insight into what may be causing one to manifest inappropriate affect, they’ll often look for past trauma or other psychological concerns. Inappropriate affect is usually a sign of a deeper psychological or physical health concerns such as PTSD, depression, or some form of brain damage.

The following are some major signs of inappropriate affect: expressing emotions that do not fit reality; abnormal emotional responses; depression, irritability, or outbursts of anger without an obvious cause; manic episodes.”

In this post, I’m not going to get into Carmy’s other signs of inappropriate affect, such as depression, irritability, outbursts of anger without an obvious cause or manic episodes, which he certainly suffers from, perhaps I will in a different post. Here, I’m going to focus on several examples of Carmy’s abnormal emotional responses.

Above is another example of Carmy laughing in a serious situation. The delivery guy comes to deliver a 200 pound order in 1x8 and Carmy discovers that it’s pork and not beef. Pork is useless to Carmy. The name of his restaurant is literally “The Beef” and he needs it to survive. The stakes are very high for Carmy to have a successful, profitable run of service every time he opens the doors. He’s trying to save the one thing his brother left him, he owes his Uncle Jimmy $300,000 and promised he’d pay him back, his sister Natalie could lose her house if the restaurant fails, Sydney’s well being really matters to Carmy and she’s now under his protection and care as her boss, and the entire staff at The Beef relies on their jobs to live and pay their bills.

I don’t think Carmy takes any of this lightly. He understands the stakes. As he told Sydney in 1x5, “we lose one service it could kill us.” Granted, the delivery guy (shoutout to the actor portraying the delivery guy) is so deadpan in his “delivery”, that it almost is funny, but given the high stakes, Carmy’s reaction is abnormal here and will continue to be abnormal in the following scene in the walk-in when he realizes how behind he is on prep and that the restaurant is not prepared to open. This sets off a chain of disturbing dissociative behavior that almost results in him burning himself up, and the restaurant down.

Gif credit: The very kind @tvfantic87

Another example of possible inappropriate affect is in the moment when Carmy is reading Michael’s final words to him in the season 1 finale. There was so much buildup to this moment and so much emotion tied to the fact that we learn that Michael told Carmy that he loves him, and uses the words that Carmy has been playing in his head to comfort himself all season, “let it rip.” In this moment I was truly waiting for Carmy to break down and cry, to have the desperately needed release of a catharsis, but he never does. He gets emotional for a brief moment and then, as if on a dime, his face twists into a grimace and he laughs. I attribute his laugh and “what?!” to Carmy reading the part of the recipe “the smaller cans taste better”, in reference to the small cans of tomatoes, which has puzzled Carmy all season, and also the fact that he’s so happy and relieved that his brother didn’t forget about him. His reaction could also be an inappropriate response to the situation due to his inability to process his feelings because of his suppressed emotions and trauma about his brother’s death.

To me, the most glaring display of inappropriate affect comes in 2x10. Carmy is trapped in the walk-in during the opening night of his restaurant. He has no idea how the night has gone. For all he knows, his beloved Sydney and Richie are at each other’s throats, his mom is terrorising his pregnant sister, his evil former boss from New York has sent food back to Sydney and could be verbally abusing her, he’s not there to protect her, the restaurant is tanking and all hope is lost. Carmy sits down and looks up. He sees the messily ripped tape, radicchio is spelled wrong, and all at once it becomes clear to him that he has let everyone down by not being there to help his staff and lead his team. This scene is what is called a “private moment” in acting. He’s supposed to be alone, no one is around. It’s extremely private. No one can get in and he can’t get out. You would think he would use this moment of solitude to break down and cry, but again, he never does, and I found it very odd. Instead, he smiles and almost bursts into laughter. Why does he do this? I believe seeing the tape being messy and ripped, and not neatly cut with scissors like he has tried to train staff to do, is why. We know this is his pet peeve. It’s almost like it’s so awful all he can do is laugh, but in this moment it feels very, very off—because it is. It’s another example of his manifestation of not having the right affect. Even listening to Claire’s voicemail, on top of having that viscious fight with Richie should have broken him down, but it didn’t. He put his head in his hands. He still has not cried. This is particularly odd because in 1x2, Carmy tells his sister “I-I know tons of people that cry out of nowhere”, but we never see him have this response, ever. Honestly, the first time I saw the scene below, during the slow push in on his face I thought, he’s about to break character. That’s honestly what it looks like to me—a bad take that should have been reshot because the actor was not in the moment. And yet—-Jeremy Allen White is an incredibly skilled and focused actor, (as I wrote about HERE), which leads me to believe this choice must have been intentional to convey inappropriate affect caused by trauma.

Carmy needs professional help and therapy and he needs it badly. He has got to do something to help himself have a desperately needed breakthrough and come to terms with his past trauma and demons for the sake of his mental health. Al-Anon is a good step but it’s not enough. It’s a monologue, he needs one on one help and a dialogue. In Al-Anon, he only speaks to what he wants to share. In therapy, he would be asked questions and given exercises that would help him unravel his tangled mind. His panic attacks, nightmares and outbursts are a threat to his health. He must change his environment and get help. No one else can do it for him, and just like many of his inappropriate affect reactions to some of his more desperate moments, it truly is no laughing matter.

©️moments-on-film 2023

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sherman Smith at Kansas Reflector:

TOPEKA — As the Kansas Legislature renewed its yearslong assault on transgender children, Sen. Mary Ware told her Senate colleagues Monday she had a “simple” question for them.

“What is the acceptable number of youth suicides?” Ware asked. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 988. Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential. Ware’s question set the tone for debate in the Senate, which voted 27-13 to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 233, legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for anyone younger than 18. But the override attempt fell short in the House on an 82-43 vote, two short of the two-thirds majority required.

The bill would have blocked teenagers from receiving hormone therapy and other treatments recognized as necessary by medical professionals. And it would have banned state employees from supporting “social transitioning,” which is defined to include an individual changing their preferred pronouns or manner of dress. Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit, and Rep. Jesse Borjon, R-Topeka, flipped their votes from earlier in the month to sustain the governor’s veto. Two other Republicans — Rep. Mark Schreiber of Emporia and Rep. David Younger of Ulysses — also joined Democrats in blocking the legislation from becoming law. “We hear about mental health, about suicide, and ask why,” Concannon said. “We’re not listening to the impact of youth. Government involvement is not the answer.” On the Senate side, Sen. John Doll, R-Garden City, and Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, joined the chamber’s 11 Democrats in supporting the veto.

Opponents of the bill pointed to extensive medical research that shows transgender children, who are already at an elevated risk for suicide, are more likely to die from suicide if they don’t receive gender-affirming care. “This bill ignores, or should I say tramples, on the rights of some Kansas citizens to live peaceably, lawfully and free to make their own decisions about their own bodies,” Ware said. Republicans argued the bill would protect children from life-altering decisions they could end up regretting.

[...] The House delayed taking action as Republican leadership tried to secure enough votes to override the governor’s veto. Before closing the roll call, Republicans locked the chamber doors and issued a procedural declaration that requires every member to cast a vote, rather than abstain. Borjon said he would support a ban on gender reassignment surgery and limits on the use of hormone blockers for minors. But for him, the bill went too far in restricting speech and behavioral health care for transgender youths. Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen, a Topeka Democrat and pastor, said it was clear the “politically motivated bill” would make the lives of trans kids and their families more difficult.

Good news: Kansas's anti-trans gender-affirming care ban for trans youths will not take effect, as Gov. Laura Kelly (D)'s veto of SB233 has been sustained in the House. #KSLeg

See Also:

Erin In The Morning: Kansas Republican Votes No On Trans Ban: "Govt. Involvement Is Not The Answer"

[plutushealthinc]

Factors To Consider While Choosing Mental Health Billing Service Providers

Mental health service providers are always busy offering quality care and treatments to their clients. Sometimes, they compromise on their billing and claim submission to provide quality treatments to their clients, which hampers their practice in the long run. 

The right care is necessary to keep your clients healthy. Similarly, a good mental health billing partner is required to keep your practice healthy. Punctures in mental health coding and billing lead to improper claim submission resulting in rejections and denials. Mental health service providers should consider outsourcing mental health billing services as it will save massive efforts and give them more time to provide care to the clients and grow their practice. 

Mental health billing is complex due to the various steps involved while submitting a claim. Behavioral and mental health billers must be highly skilled in understanding complex codes and modifiers and should know all the regulations to stay in compliance. There are multiple behavioral & mental health billing service providers in the market, and choosing the right partner depends on your need. But before choosing mental health billing service provider, consider these top 5 factors.

Services offered

Mental health billing is not restricted to adding codes and submitting claims to insurance payers. It involves many steps that need to be followed to get full reimbursement for the services offered. Companies that offer behavioral health billing provide end-to-end RCM solutions, and not all the services might be currently necessary for you. Answer the following questions to know what kind of services you need from the RCM partner.

What is the end goal of partnering with a mental health billing provider?

What is the specialization of the company you are considering partnering with?

Can the company cater to your requirements?

Are the benefits, time, and efforts aligned with your needs?

You should know the services of mental health billing companies before partnering with them. If you get answers to all these questions, you can partner with the company that meets your expectations. 

Cost

Hiring a highly skilled and experienced team in-house could be expensive. It demands a lot of time, effort, and cost investment. You should create a coding budget and partner with a firm that can provide you with the services within your budget. A few services could increase the cost of your billing and coding services. You should clarify the charges with the service providers the price before you start leveraging services from them.

Transparency

Timely and prompt decision-making is essential at the time of claim submission. But this does not mean the mental health billing company can make decisions without taking prior approvals from you. Mental health care providers should look for a transparent billing company while filling and submitting the claim. You do not need to micromanage any of the activities. All you need is to stay aware of the processes followed by the Medical billing company. You should know the claim's status and the reasons for delay or denial. A reliable mental and behavioral health billing partner will provide you detailed reports on the progress regularly and will take feedback on the new changes recommended to avoid denials. 

Security

Mental health billing is all about secure information and involves colossal revenue. If there is a minute security breach, it will lead to a huge money loss to the practice. Patient privacy is also a big concern for mental health care providers. Patients trust you with sensitive information, and their faith in you is essential. You should always search HIPPA-compliant companies as they will always provide high security and data protection to your practice. You should also stay compliant with government rules and regulations.

Credentials   

A strong recommendation from your fellow practice is convincing enough to partner with a mental and behavioral health billing service provider. But it is vital to verify all the company details, background, their numbers before deciding. Search whether the company complies with HIPPA, state, and federal regulations. Search for the answers to the following questions:

Does the mental health service provider do a self-audit?

What does the company do to educate its employees regularly?

Are the employees updated with current rules, regulations, and updates?

Your mental health billing partner should be capable of guiding financial and process development decision-making for the betterment of your practice.  

A mental health coding and billing provider is like a dedicated business partner who will make efforts to grow your practice like you do, ensuring your practice's success. When you trust a third-party mental health billing provider with sensitive information, you make them an integral part of your practice. The decision could impact your practice significantly, and you should take utmost care before taking a final call. 

[tomorrowusa]

Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson is now a House member. He takes reliably MAGA positions on issues before Congress. It looks like Jackson may have picked up an aversion to the truth from his former colleague George Santos.

On his congressional website, the Texas Republican describes himself as a “retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral with nearly three decades of military service.” But that leaves out one big omission—that Jackson was demoted from the senior naval flag rank to captain in July 2022. That move came after the Pentagon inspector general released a scathing report on Jackson’s behavior while serving in Donald Trump’s White House, including that the doctor—who had retired from the Navy in 2019—berated, drank with, and sexually harassed subordinates while serving as the director of the White House medical unit. Jackson was also accused of popping Ambien throughout the workday. Those revelations came with a $15,000 cut in annual pension payouts for a 24-year veteran like Jackson, as well as social stigma within the ranks. “The substantiated allegations in the [Department of Defense inspector general] investigation of Rear [Adm.] (lower half) Ronny Jackson are not in keeping with the standards the Navy requires of its leaders and, as such, the secretary of the Navy took administrative action in July 2022,” Lt. Cmdr. Joe Keiley, a Navy spokesman, told The Washington Post. Jackson casually dismissed the report in his July 2022 memoir, Holding the Line, conveniently skipping over the part where he was formally demoted.

In early 2018 Jackson's bizarrely bullish report about Trump's health made national news.

Dr. Ronny Jackson’s glowing bill of health for Trump

The press briefing he gave at the White House was widely mocked and inspired a sketch on Saturday Night Live.

Two months after that fabulist medical report, Trump tried to appoint Jackson as Secretary of Veterans Affairs to his revolving door cabinet. The move was widely viewed as a reward for services rendered. In April, Jackson was forced to withdraw from consideration. He was too corrupt even for a position in the Trump administration. 😱

Ronny Jackson withdraws as VA secretary nominee

The Jackson scandal is a reminder that we still lack direct credible information on Trump's physical or mental health. Considering that Trump apparently drinks 12 Diet Cokes® a day and is a notorious consumer of junk food, the true state of his health is probably far worse than what Dr. Jackson or Trump's self-reporting reveal.

[coochiequeens]

Sounds like for all the lipservice the TQ+ give to being sensitive to those with mental health issues this guy didn't care about the impact of his actions on his roommate who was dealing with PTSD. When he was called out and warned that coming home late without a so much as a text first wasn't a good idea when your roommate is a gun owner he cried that he was being threatened.

By Anna Slatz February 3, 2024

A trans-identified male from Colorado is seeking asylum in Canada on the basis of his gender identity. Daria Bloodworth arrived in Canada in 2019 after claiming to have been the victim of “transphobic” crime in the United States.

Bloodworth applied for refugee status in Canada, seeking protection on the basis of transphobic persecution by Americans, American society generally, and specific individuals including a debt collector and a former roommate at Colorado State University.

In his asylum application, Bloodworth claimed that he was the victim of a transphobia-motivated crime in May of 2019 after his roommate brandished a gun at him while making transphobic statements. The asylum application states that Bloodworth feared for his life after a court refused to grant him a protective order following the incident.

“With no protection orders in place, Ms. Bloodworth states the roommate stalked her, including by standing outside her residence with a gun, and he pursued her despite changing residences twice.Ms. Bloodworth states she called the police or went to the police station to report events of stalking behaviour, but did not receive protection. She was told her former roommate had the right to open carry a firearm. Eventually, she stopped calling the police,” the Citizenship and Immigration case reads.

Reduxx has reviewed bodycam footage showing the Fort Collins Police Service responding to the purported transphobic incident in 2019.

The 2-hour long video starts by showing Bloodworth being interviewed by police at the station after coming to report the crime himself. In the interview, the three police officers appear visibly confused and express difficulty in understanding Bloodworth’s account of events after he claims his roommate had threatened him “with a gun.” His story appears to change somewhat every time an officer asks him to clarify details of his claims.

Following the initial interview with Bloodworth, police go to the residence to speak with the roommate, a young male who identifies himself as a military veteran. The man reveals that Bloodworth had been a problem roommate as he did not pay his bills, frequently stole from the other residents, and would often come home in the middle of the night without informing the others he would be out.

This had led to concerns about the roommate’s PTSD being triggered, as he would often be woken up at early hours to find the front door handle being jiggled and become anxious, unsure if the home was being broken into.

The roommate says that they had been struggling with Bloodworth’s behavior for months and actively attempting to evict him from the residence. He explains that an argument had finally broken out that day after his frustration reached a tipping point with respect to Bloodworth’s conduct. Specifically, Bloodworth’s lack of financial contribution to the household, and his tendency to come home during the night with no notice or consideration for his roommate’s anxiety.

“I said — there’s a gun in the basement, you could get shot not addressing coming home at 4 in the morning through the door I sleep 30 feet from. Could you at least give us a heads up [when you are coming home]? Can you not be weird and sneaky like this?” the roommate says to police, obviously exasperated.

Bloodworth as seen in the body cam footage from May of 2019.

“So you were saying, ‘if I don’t know you’re coming home at 4 in the morning, you could end up getting shot?” police clarified.

“Yes! Because it’s kind of crazy,” the roommate insisted. “I just want a heads up.”

“So you don’t think you are getting burglarized, right?” the officer asks, to which the roommate says “yes.”

The roommate notes there was an old hunting rifle in the home’s basement, but said it was not loaded and there was no ammunition in the residence.

During the police interview, the roommate refers to Bloodworth by “she/her” pronouns and his preferred name. He also calls Bloodworth a “woman” at various points during the interview. This calls into question Bloodworth’s claims to both police and Canadian immigration officials that he had been subjected to a transphobia-motivated crime.

The roommate also states that Bloodworth had frequently become enraged at the other residents in the home when they requested he pay his portion of the bills, and suggests that Bloodworth threatened to sue them for “pain and suffering” when they changed the WiFi password.

The young man later concedes to having been wrong to refer to the gun in the basement during their argument, and calmly offers himself up to any charges. The case against him would be dismissed less than two months later.

Though Bloodworth told Canadian immigration officials that the roommate “open carried” a gun, the roommate told police he did not own one himself. Bloodworth also stated that the roommate later “stalked” him, but there is no substantiation to support that claim. However, following the “threats” incident, Bloodworth repeatedly posted the roommate’s full name to social media, along with videos showing his face.

Bloodworth continued to live and work in Colorado until November of 2019, when he arrived in Canada and filed for refugee protection.

In October of 2022, the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) rejected Bloodworth’s claim for asylum, determining he had adequate rights and protection back in the United States. He then appealed the decision, and the Refugee Appeals Division (RAD) ruled in his favor.

RAD member Dilani Mohan concluded that “the RPD failed to consider how Colorado’s open carry gun laws combined with the general climate of anti-trans hatred growing in the US could make [her] perpetually vulnerable and at risk to her life.”

Mohan also noted high rates of “discrimination and violence” in Maine, New Jersey, Illinois and Nevada and said that while New York City might be an option, the move would force Bloodworth into poverty.

“The RPD failed to consider how Colorado’s open carry gun laws combined with the general climate of anti-trans hatred growing in the US could make [her] perpetually vulnerable and at risk to her life,” Mohan wrote.

But Bloodworth’s victory was short-lived, as this week, a Federal Court ruled that the RAD incorrectly claimed that Colorado authorities were incapable of protecting Bloodworth, or that he couldn’t safely reside elsewhere in the United States.

Bloodworth — who now lives in the Yukon Territory — says he plans to appeal the ruling to the Federal Court of Appeal in hopes of being formally granted refugee status.

Since arriving in Canada, Bloodworth has changed his legal name from Véronique Marie Bellamy in an apparent effort to obscure his identity in the event his immigration attempts did not go in his favor.

On his My Little Pony-themed social media feed, Bloodworth advertises himself as an “exile from America” and an “author of queer fiction.” He states he is “trying to pursue a quick bachelor’s degree to be able to get into medical school,” and is also investing in cryptocurrency in an effort to make enough money to fund his gender transition.

Bloodworth claims to have been fired by TD Canada Trust bank in 2023 for being a “whistleblower” but it is unclear what he blew the whistle on. His LinkedIn shows he worked at the company for approximately 1 year as a Lead Customer Experience Associate.

His social media feed includes snipes at Harry Potter author JK Rowling and those who participated in last year’s march against gender ideology.

In July of 2023, Bloodworth credited seeing the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies with providing him motivation to continue fighting for refugee status in Canada.

[minny5ca2018]

My Rant

System simply fails people. It does ...

My email to NB MLA for Kings County area of New Brunswick Canada.

^^^

I cannot find the name of a supervisor nor do I remember the name of the woman from the program who called me tonight.

I never met her. I only met D#### ---- from ##$$$$$.

I applied for the program for a worker to help with light housekeeping because as K#### knows, I have been financially limited for years.

I have ongoing issues health wise and I am physically limited, yes, in that I cannot stand or walk for long periods.

I have the federal Disability Tax Credit because of this.

I only met D#### and not the Supervisor nor the person for this program from the ##### area.

Therefore she had no basis to judge me.

Physically, mentally or otherwise.

She was basing her information on what the women from the Agency was reporting to them.

When they came here, they realized the house needed deep cleaning and they started to help to a degree.

But that came to an end last Friday when one of the women, more or less on an outspoken moment decided to speak to me in a way that in my opinion was uncalled for and mean.

What she accused me of was not true. I stupidly tried to argue and asked her to leave those areas for me to handle personally.

She refused and leading the way, walked out and taking the younger woman with her. She said it was unsafe and they were walking out and to clean my house myself.

I later called the Agency and apologized for my behavior but didn't appreciate how the woman talked to me, etc. I also said they were doing a good job.

Woman on the phone said, "No worries, " and hung up.

Tonight I got the Dear John phone call from the new social worker handling the issue. She spoke her name fast I had no clue. Same with her Supervisor. No idea the person's name. I believe he called me one night when D##### was sick and stood me up on our agreed appointment.

She said that based on the women's assessment of me , I didn't need help personally with anything physical or mental and therefore I wasn't eligible for their program because it was only light housekeeping they had to offer and I needed someone to deep clean.

She said the same was true of other Agencys and because of my not needing physical or mental help, I wasn't eligible for support to pay a private worker either from the Province either.

She said that they were dropping me and they were closing my file.

I said it won't be me judging you ... but do what you have to do based on your rules. I forgive you.

I also said when a person is so far I into the financial hole like I am, there's no getting out and that the system is purposely designed for people to fail.

I am not eligible for any NB Repair Program because I owe taxes for my house.

I am on the list for housing and have been for years. Nothing.

I would list this in a heart beat, but nothing.

I keep getting the house up for sale for tax bills ... I am unemployed and on sick benefits that will run out in January.

My house needs major repairs and cannot afford to fix it. Likely not safe to live in, but here it is.

A rock and a hard place. System is designed for people to fail.

But those women, one of them that Friday said some very cruel things to me that I feel was unfair and not true.

And they pay me back by reporting to the worker that I am not physically or mentally disabled and therefore not eligible for their services or even for the Program from the Department.

Well, for starters they are not Dr's. No medical degree and one of the women fought with me. Hardly the best judge of anyone, in my opinion.

Forgive my rant, but a lot of your "rules" leave people adrift.

Thank you for your time.

^^^

Just my thoughts and opinion.

My blog. My opinion.

[outsourcingmedicalbills]

A Detailed Guide On Prior Authorization Process In RCM

In no small measure, the difficulty of providing patients with the proper care at the appropriate time has skyrocketed up the graph, and the conflict between cost-conscious insurance companies, patients, and their doctors won’t go away any time soon. Sounds like a dilemma? We all can agree to the stemmed fact that finding innovative ways to improve care delivery has been a goal for many healthcare executives as the healthcare landscape continues to get more complex.

Here’s food for thought! Even though you’ve reviewed your processes, improved the workflow, and trained your team, your revenue still doesn’t correspond to the number of doctors or the amount of hours they devote to patient care. What is happening? Where are the losses and income leakage that you can’t identify?

Let’s talk facts shall we? Prior authorization requires a lot of expertise and guidance to get it right. Thus, resorting to an in-house team is not a fine option. Prior authorization management is a crucial component of revenue cycle management and thus needs to be handled by the experts of the healthcare industry. To demonstrate to the insurance company why a particular medical treatment, equipment, or medicine that has been prescribed is required, a healthcare professional must complete a PA form as part of the PA process. The necessity and significance of the Prior Authorization Process are discussed in this article.

What Exactly Is Prior Authorization?

Before a certain treatment, service, gadget, or drug is given to the patient in order to qualify for coverage, doctors and other healthcare professionals must acquire in advance approval from a health insurance plan (known as a “prior authorization” or “PA”) process.

How Does the Need for Medical Care Affect Pre-Authorization?

The hospital must decide whether to absorb the expense or charge the patients when health care providers are unable to obtain the required clearances and the payer (insurance company) denies the concerned payment. Procedures not covered by the patient’s health plan are explicitly defined and noted during the verification process. The patient is liable for paying for any services rendered when they obtain benefits or treatments that are not covered by their insurance plan. However, when claims are rejected owing to the provider’s failure to obtain authorization, they must bear the expense themselves, which results in a financial loss that affects the entire revenue cycle.

In some circumstances, the patient receives a bill for the unpaid amount, and they are then responsible for paying it. However, doing so would be wrong and would harm the hospital’s standing. Therefore, getting pre-authorization at the appropriate time is crucial to getting paid for the treatments provided.

Healthcare organizations can streamline the prior authorization process and lighten the load on staff and clinicians by following these best practices. These actions also lessen the risk of denials, operational stumbling blocks, and patient care delays. Let’s take a look at significant pointers that streamline the prior authorization process, shall we?

1. Accurate Records to Prevent Rejections:

The lengthy prior authorization process won’t be preferred by the majority of healthcare practitioners because it takes up so much of their valuable time. However, cutting corners with PA processes will only result in rejections. Things are preferable to get it correctly the first time in order to avoid problems of this nature.

Even if there are a lot of new insurance plans available today and more pharmaceuticals are falling under the PA umbrella, healthcare providers may still find it difficult to go forward. Therefore, prior authorization is now a cost-effective strategy. To better handle documentation and save time, many providers have started switching to electronic PA.

2. Pre-authorization that has been approved makes the documentation process simple:

Some insurance providers do pre-approved particular medications and treatments. In such circumstances, the documentation process becomes simpler to initiate, leading to effective RCM. Pre-authorization that has been issued has occasionally been the subject of complaints from both the patient and the insurance provider regarding unnecessary billing costs.

It is advised to give the right information regarding the set amount payable during the medical visit, the initial amount payable before the insurance plan kicks in, and a percentage of the patient’s share of the costs associated with the appointment.

3. The Part Played By Patients In The Prior Authorization Process:

The PA procedure is not for payers and healthcare providers. In the pre-authorization procedure, the patient is also crucial. Why? Because they must exchange information and comprehend the payer’s inclusion and exclusion requirements.

Healthcare professionals should make sure that the following patient data is appropriately obtained before starting the PA process. This information covers the patient’s whole medical history, past treatments, ailments, symptoms, and diagnoses, as well as in-depth physician notes.

4. Improve PA With Emerging Technology:

Prior Authorization is being translated into technical breakthroughs as the healthcare business began to experience a significant technological revolution. Numerous software programs are being created today that allow access to electronic health records and perform PA (EHR). This type of healthcare software has the sophisticated capabilities to access and synchronize patient medical records, reducing PA errors, the time and financial expenses associated with the permission procedure.

5. Protect patient health information and PA:

When handling patient health records and prior authorization on an electronic health record (EHR) platform, privacy and information security should be your top priorities. Everything should be kept safe, including wireless and physical restrictions, access authorization to the system, password controls, and access controls.

Preauthorization is a complicated process for a number of reasons. These consist of:

Each payer has different and numerous requirements, which causes mistakes and delays.

Workflows between payers and providers are inconsistent.

Rules for payers are not uniform and it is continually evolving.

Providers cannot constantly review and update payer rules.

Payers continue to add to current health plans to grow their company.

Errors occur when previous auth requests are manually entered.

Lack of skilled personnel results in mistakes that cause delays.

Stress at work causes medical mistakes.

Preauthorization Benefits of Automation

Speed up the process for obtaining prior authorizations.

Less administrative and medical work is required

Insights into the permission status of real-time data

Accelerate the delivery of patient treatment

Reduce denials and monitor the frequency of non-payment

Improve first submission success to decrease AR backlog and increase cash inflow

Increasing income by being fully reimbursed for all services rendered

Boost general practice output.

Wrapping Up

Prior permission work is less of a strain on staff, and it takes up less of their time. Strong patient satisfaction, simplified prior authorizations, and quicker scheduling have helped scores of medical settings make up lost revenue and boost their bottom line financially. If you’re looking for the perfect partner to take over the complexities of the process, Medisys Data Solutions is merely one tap away!

[scottfeldberg]

How to State Budget Cuts On Affect Mental Health Medication Management?

Mental health is emotional or physiological wellbeing. Mental health illnesses are depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. However, mental health is a taboo subject. In fact, there are many who believe that one can cure mental health without the help of a psychiatrist or psychologist. Moreover, there are many who live in denial of mental illness. In such circumstances, state budget cuts seem to add more fuel to the fire. Let us understand these budget cuts and their impact on Mental Health Medication Management In detail in this blog.

What Is Mental Health Medical Billing? Billing Services for Mental Health Providers consist of Billing Codes for Mental Health. The insurance company reimburses a psychiatrist for their services on the basis of the codes. The coders have a thorough knowledge of the Mental Health Code of Practice. These codes are the basis for reimbursements from insurance companies.

Why Is the Mental Health Code Of Practice More Complex Than Medical Billing?

Psychiatry Medical Billing is much more complex than other medical billing. Below are a few major reasons why it is so: Different Ways of Treatment The methods of treatment by mental health providers are different. Some treat their patients with medicines while some with therapy and meditation while others with both. This is quite different from medical billing where the work is more streamlined and standard.

Time Period of Treatment Not Fixed The time doctors take to treat the patient is never fixed. Even though there are some insurance companies that limit the number of treatments in a week. It is not a standard format. On top of it, it is not so easy to determine mental health lengths as compared to medical health. This leads to less remuneration or even rejection of the mental health-based claims.

Inability to Take Pre Authorization It is very difficult to take preauthorization from patients because most of the patients that visit are out of network.

Insurance Companies Do Not Cover Patients Sufficiently As per a 2019 blog of the National Alliance of mental health insurance companies do not cover mental health patients adequately. This makes Psychiatry Medical Billing more difficult to handle than regular medical billing.

Dearth of Staff The usual norm is that medical practitioners have a staff that deals with the patient query and follow up with insurance companies for reimbursements, patients, and the medical coder if necessary. However, mental health practitioners usually work alone or in partnerships. Therefore they do not keep a lot of staff to handle such queries.

Limits on Service What Is The State Budget Cut? State budget cuts are a reduction of funds for providers of mental health. The reduction of State spending has started to influence the psychological medical care administrations in many states. As per a review, states have cut more than $1.6 billion in overall funds in the financial years 2009 through 2012. This trend has continued since 2009 till date. Even in 2020, amid the pandemic, there was a cut on a youth program mental health. The state has also axed the budget for children’s mental health programs.

What Are The Effects Of State Budget Cuts On Mental Health Practitioners? Due to economic depression, the budget kept for mental health care has been cut. That means the doctors will not get the actual amount for the services they provide. This means the doctor will have to incur the loss or the patient will have to bear the expenses. If the patient is not in a position to bear the expenses he or she may avoid taking the treatment. In all the above three scenarios either the patient or provider is at loss.

How Can A Behavioral Health Biller Come To The Rescue? The present circumstance is disturbing for mental medical services experts. It is so because they need to zero in on persistent consideration to get legitimate repayments from insurance companies. This is not their actual body of work. A Mental Health Billing Services provider is the fitting entity for this job. They can help them to get the claim payments from insurance companies with ease.

Why Choose Legion Healthcare as Your Mental Health Insurance Billing Partner? Long and Successful Track Record of Work Legion health care has done Billing for Mental Health Services for a long period of time. That is why we have become one of the prominent Mental Health Insurance Billing Service providers.

Follow All Guidelines Our Mental Health Billing Specialist makes sure to adhere to all the guidelines of HIPPA and other important laws that concern the mental health field.

Competent Charges Our charges are very competent. We have done mental health billing for hospitals as well as newly come up mental practices.

Increase in Revenue We help medical practices to get Reimbursement for Mental Health Services. On the other hand, the staff at the practices can focus on their core job to bring in more appointments and serve their patients better. All this leads to revenue growth for the mental health practice.