Medicare Announces Coverage for Alcohol Misuse Screening and Counseling
Medicare will now cover screening and counseling for alcohol misuse, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced. Screening for depression will also be covered, according to Consumer Reports.
Marvin M. Lipman, MD, Chief Medical Adviser to Consumer Reports, noted that asking a single question such as, “How often do you have more than five drinks a night?” can help doctors identify problem drinkers.
The new CMS policy covers yearly alcohol misuse screening by primary care providers, such as a family practice physician, internal medicine physician, or nurse practitioner, in settings such as a doctor’s office. According to a CMS news release, the benefit also includes four behavioral counseling sessions a year by the patient’s primary care provider, if he or she screens positive for alcohol misuse.
Four sessions ? Wow
yeah… and too bad that those practitioners are not licensed therapists who could actually provide services.
Not to mention that Medicare does not pay for professional counselors as a provider type…. That’s quite the big hole.
Medicare services need to be expanded, and the profit-taking (Medicare Advantage, for example) removed from the programs so that the funds can be put toward services.