How to Open a Behavioral Health Clinic in Texas

Business Associate Agreements in Behavioral Health: Reconciling the BAA File Against the Vendors You Actually Pay

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Most behavioral health programs have a BAA folder. Few have one that matches accounts payable. How to reconcile vendor agreements, handle the 60-day breach reporting ceiling, and add Part 2 QSO language for SUD records.
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Good Faith Estimates for Self-Pay Behavioral Health Clients: The No Surprises Act Timelines Operators Miss

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Self-pay and cash-pay behavioral health clients trigger the No Surprises Act Good Faith Estimate rule. The business-day deadlines, the $400 dispute threshold, why estimates fail after intake, and a ten-chart audit to run this week.
Strategy Meeting Two

Medicare Overpayments in Behavioral Health: Running the 60-Day Clock and the 180-Day Investigation Window

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Under 42 CFR 401.305, a Medicare overpayment must be reported and returned within 60 days of identification, with up to 180 days of suspension for a timely, good-faith investigation. Here is how behavioral health operators should run that clock.

Record Retention and Destruction in Behavioral Health: Which Clock Actually Applies

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HIPAA's six-year rule covers compliance documentation, not client charts. How behavioral health operators should map state, payer, accreditation and Part 2 retention clocks, and build a destruction log that holds up.
Compliance officer reviewing 42 CFR Part 2 SUD record-handling procedures on a laptop next to clinical documentation at a behavioral health program

Patient Records Requests in Behavioral Health: Meeting the HIPAA 30-Day Access Clock

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HIPAA gives behavioral health programs 30 days to act on a patient's records request, with one written extension. Where access requests go late, the psychotherapy notes trap, fees, Part 2 overlap, and the access log to build this week.
Stay compliant with the July 2025 TJC standards update. Learn what’s changed and how Circa helps update your policies.

Policy and Procedure Document Control: Proving Which Version Was in Effect

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Surveyors and investigators ask which policy version governed an incident, not just what the manual says today. How behavioral health operators can build version control, a six-year archive and training links that hold up under review.

OIG Exclusion Screening for Behavioral Health Programs: The Monthly Check Surveyors and Payers Expect

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Monthly LEIE and SAM screening is the practical minimum for any behavioral health program billing Medicaid or Medicare. Here is who belongs on the list, why screening programs fail, and what surveyors and auditors sample.
CARF Accreditation Consulting: Why It Matters for Behavioral Health Programs

The 180-Day Corrective Action Window: Responding to an OTP Survey Report Under the Revised 42 CFR Part 8

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The revised 42 CFR part 8 gives opioid treatment programs up to 180 days from receipt of a survey report to complete corrective action. Here is what accrediting bodies actually sample, why the window is shorter than it looks, and what your state still controls.

The MATE Act Attestation: What Belongs in Every Behavioral Health Prescriber File

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Since June 27, 2023, prescribers renewing a DEA registration must attest to eight hours of substance use disorder training. DEA issues no proof of it — your credentialing file is the only place evidence lives. What operators should pull this week.
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Incident Reporting and Sentinel Event Review: The System Surveyors Ask to See

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A quiet incident log is rarely evidence of a safe program. How behavioral health operators build incident reporting and serious event review systems that hold up under survey.