Webinar 1: Focus on Behavioral Health: Cost Allocation – Getting the Basics Right

With reimbursement systems shifting from fee-for-service to value-based care, behavioral health providers need to adapt their business models in order to successfully navigate new payment environments. This requires being able to accurately calculate and track the cost of producing the outcomes that payers value in order to negotiate adequate reimbursement. 

To assist behavioral health finance and accounting staff in preparing for the transition to value-based payment and care, the Delta Center hosted a series of webinar trainings, Focus on Behavioral Health: Understanding Your Costs in an Evolving Payment Environment. These webinars were facilitated by Capital Link, a national, non-profit organization that specializes in helping health centers improve operations and financial management. 

The first webinar in the series provided a detailed review of the methodology behavioral health providers should use for allocating costs in a fee-for-service accounting environment (direct, indirect, and overhead), and an introduction to how “costing” will differ for in a value-based system.