Tag: insurance

music therapy for autism

What you may not know about CPT Codes…

Angie Kopshy

Did you know that CPT codes are not discipline specific and are used by related healthcare professionals (i.e., physical, occupational, speech, and recreational therapy)? The American Music Therapy Association recently published an updated fact sheet about CPT codes in direct relation to music therapy.

A couple important notes:

  • It is extremely important to communicate with other therapists involved in the client’s treatment so you can adhere to proper billing procedures.
  • In most cases, insurance companies require that billing for music therapy with CPT® codes must be approved prior to rendering the service.
  • Recognizing the numerous clinical area specializations in which music therapists work, clinicians are advised to use only those codes for which they have been properly trained.
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Your voice counts with autism insurance reform!

Angie Kopshy

As we step up and make our voices count by voting, I encourage you to make yourselves heard about insurance reform for autism as well. Paul Terdal has worked tirelessly to keep Oregon families updated on autism insurance reform at this site.

The state of Washington is going through major transformation as the Washington Supreme Court ruled that Regence pay for neurodevelopmental therapies (speech, occupational, and physical therapy) as a treatment for autism, without age limits. Regence had been providing coverage, but imposed an age limit of 6 beyond which coverage was denied whether medically necessary or not. View the official ruling here.

Unfortunately, this settlement with Regence applies to Washington only – in Oregon, Regence continues to issue denials of ABA, despite the Insurance Commissioner’s statements and draft bulletins declaring this to be illegal. The state of Oregon’s Judge Simon reached a similar conclusion with Oregon’s Mental Health Parity in AF v Providence case.  As Oregon continues to work on this issue, you can find bulletins here. Please stay tuned for calls to action as we unite to obtain coverage for autism in Oregon.

Thank you for your support, families.

Angie Kopshy, MM, MT-BC

Music Therapy Services of Portland

autism, music therapy, music therapy for autism

Music Therapy Services of Portland receives generous grant

Angie Kopshy

angiegrantMusic Therapy Services of Portland was just awarded a generous grant from WRAMTA – the Western Chapter of the American Music Therapy Association. This grant will enable MTSP to hire a consultant to assist with streamlining an insurance reimbursement process and music therapist, Dawn Iwamasa, to assist with the organization and culmination of our efforts. We look forward to educating our Western Region colleagues upon completion of this project and using this grant to serve more of the Oregon community!