Behavioral Healthcare Credentialing

License and Certification Expiration Tracking in Behavioral Health: Catching a Lapse Before It Becomes an Overpayment

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Most clinician license lapses are found by surveyors or payers, not the program. How to build an expirables register, re-verify at the primary source, and manage the 60-day overpayment clock when a lapse overlaps billed services.
Behavioral Health Compliance Training

The Seven Elements of an Effective Compliance Program: The Evidence Behavioral Health Operators Need on File

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OIG's General Compliance Program Guidance, published November 2023, sets out seven elements of an effective compliance program. Here is the dated evidence behavioral health operators need to prove each one is operating, not just written down.
Painted Meeting

The CARF Quality Improvement Plan: Meeting the 90-Day Deadline With Actions a Resurvey Can Verify

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After a CARF survey, programs have 90 days from the accreditation decision to submit a Quality Improvement Plan. How operators structure each response, run the window, and keep the evidence the next surveyor will check.
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.
Group Home Requirements in Texas

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.