Kimberly Lindsay and Tim Timmons on Behavioral Health Compliance [Podcast]

Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub Behavioral health shares many of the same compliance challenges as the rest of healthcare, but it also has several of its own. To understand the risks, we sat down with Community Counseling Solutions’ Executive Director Kimberly Lindsay and Compliance & Privacy Officer Tim Timmons. They will be leading the session “Developing an Ethics and Compliance Program in Behavioral Health” at the HCCA 28th Annual Compliance Institute, which will be in Nashville, April 14-17 and also offered in a virtual format. In this podcast they identify several typical compliance challenges in the behavioral health setting: Managers and supervisors who are well intentioned but busy, not holding staff accountable and not reporting in a timely manner. Incidents after hours when a patient is in crisis. This is a very difficult situation. The team is eager to help the patient get better, but with lots of adrenaline flowing in a difficult situation, they may find themselves sharing more information about the patient than they should. Sharing PHI improperly when working with community partners. Mishandling of subpoenas and court ordered requests for records which may not comport with 42 CFR. Coding and dual diagnosis treatment Treatment plans that are not updated before providing services Overly verbose documentation Listen in as they outline these issues and ways to address them. Then, plan on joining us in Nashville for the 28th Annual Compliance Institute.