Bill Text: NJ A1732 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "Community Mental Health Safety Net Act"; requires DHS to provide cost-based reimbursement on quarterly basis for certain mental health and substance use disorder treatment services through June 2018; makes appropriation.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Human Services Committee [A1732 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A1732-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2018 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman McKnight, Assemblymen S.Kean and Dancer
SYNOPSIS
"Community Mental Health Safety Net Act"; requires DHS to provide cost-based reimbursement on quarterly basis for certain mental health and substance use disorder treatment services through June 2018; makes appropriation.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning payment for mental health and substance use disorder treatment services and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. A licensed provider of mental health or substance use disorder treatment services that, on the effective date of this act, holds a contract with the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services or the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services in the Department of Human Services that provides cost-based reimbursement for the provider to provide mental health or substance use disorder treatment services, and that subsequently transitions to a fee-for-service reimbursement system, shall be held harmless for the entirety of State Fiscal Year 2018 for any shortfall of billable revenues relative to what would have been provided under the provider's cost-based reimbursement contract. To effectuate this provision, the Department of Human Services shall provide quarterly reimbursements to affected providers equal to the difference between the provider's billable revenues during the quarter and one quarter of the value of the provider's annual cost-based reimbursement contract.
2. There are appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Services such amounts as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill, designated the "Community Mental Health Safety Net Act," would hold harmless certain providers of mental health and substance use disorder treatment services through June 2018 as they transition from a cost-based reimbursement contract model to a fee-for-service reimbursement model.
The Department of Human Services is in the process of transitioning its contracted providers of community-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment services from a cost-reimbursement model to a fee-for-service model. Under the current plan, providers will be required to transition their contracts no later than July 1, 2017. This bill would require the department to provide quarterly reimbursements through the entirety of State Fiscal Year 2018 to providers who hold cost-based reimbursement contracts on the effective date of the bill equal to the difference between the provider's billable revenues during the quarter and one quarter of the value of the provider's annual cost-based reimbursement contract.
Additionally, the bill appropriates from the General Fund to the Department of Human Services such amounts as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury.
