We do a lot of Mental Health Billing! and I mean ALOT! We bill for all credentials from MFT, LCSW, PHD to Psychiatrist and ranging from individuals to group providers all over California. In Los Angeles County, as luck would have it, LACO, also known as LA County Department of Mental Health (DMH) manages the contract for Medicaid.
LACO says they want to get claims electronically but they don’t really mean it. We have tried to get our clearing house to hook up with them. After many failed attempts, unreturned phone calls, and absurd requirements, our clearinghouse finally gave up.
There is a reason why we are all submitting electronic claims in one universal format. It defeats the purpose to require out of the ordinary fields to be programmed. One step forward for electronic claims and two step backwards for LACO.
Until I can get another clearinghouse to brave the attempts, we are having to re-key the claims from our practice management system into their web-based system; both a time-consuming and arduous tasks.