OCA work group wrestles with limits of measuring behavioral health delivered in primary care

OCA work group wrestles with limits of measuring behavioral health delivered in primary care The California Office of Healthcare Affordability (OCA) work group on Aug. 20 discussed how to identify behavioral health services provided in primary care settings and debated expanding the list of primary-care provider taxonomies to include behavioral health professionals — a move some members warned would risk overstating what counts as primary-care spending. The debate matters because the subset of behavioral health spending OCA counts as occurring in primary care will affect future benchmarks, investment decisions and how policy makers track integration efforts. OCA staff described a four-part test they plan to use to include a claim in the behavioral health–primary care module: a primary behavioral-health diagnosis (except for screening/assessment codes, which are included regardless of diagnosis), a provider taxonomy classified as primary care, a primary-care place-of-service, and a service code in OCA’s outpatient professional primary-care subcategory. Debbie Lindes, OCA’s health care delivery system group…