Effective 02/21/2025
- New Horizon BCBS NJ clients added to Headway will no longer receive PHQ-9 and instead automatically receive GAD-7 and PHQ-8 on a 30-day cadence, starting 2 days before their first session.
- Existing clients with this plan, added on or after 01/15/25, will no longer receive PHQ-9 by default, and instead only receive GAD-7 on a 30 day cadence. If you previously adjusted the initial default settings for these clients, your choice of assessment type and cadence will continue to be in effect.
What's changing
All new Horizon BCBS of New Jersey clients (age 18 and older) who were added to Headway on or after Jan 15, 2025 must automatically receive at least one initial and follow-up assessment.
When adding a new client to your Headway portal, you’ll now be prompted to select at least one assessment at your preferred cadence from the Headway Assessment library. By default, your client will receive the GAD-7 and PHQ-8 every 30 days starting 2 days before their first session. You can choose different assessments and customize send frequencies at any time to match your client’s clinical needs.
For clients who find you through Headway, we'll automatically send the GAD-7 and PHQ-8 every 30 days starting 2 days before their first session. You can choose different assessments from the Headway Assessment library and customize send frequencies at any time to match your client's clinical needs.
Prior to February 21st 2025, we automatically sent GAD-7 and PHQ-9 on a 30 day cadence. Since then, we have temporarily replaced PHQ-9 with PHQ-8, as we rebuild our protocol for reviewing PHQ-9 responses.
Who's impacted by this change
This change is being implemented for all clients with Horizon BCBS New Jersey (ages 18+ only) who join Headway or are added to Headway on or after January 15, 2024.
How it works
GAD-7 and PHQ-8 assessments will be automatically sent to these clients on a recurring 30 day cadence, starting 2 days before their first appointment. You can choose different assessments from Headway’s Assessment library and customize send frequencies at any time to match your client’s clinical needs.
If you would prefer to stop recurring assessments from being sent after the initial assessment and one follow-up assessment, you can do so under the Assessments tab, by clicking Manage.
As a note, since clients with this plan must receive an initial and one follow-up assessment, you will only be able to disable recurring assessments after these have been successfully sent to your client.
Viewing the results
Assessment results will automatically appear under your client’s profile in the assessments tab once the client completes the assessment(s). You’ll also receive an email notification when your client completes an assessment which will direct you to your portal to view results.
From your portal, you'll be able to download and print results to store assessments results across multiple systems, to share results with your client directly, or to more easily reference them in session.
Frequently asked questions
Why is this change being introduced?
Headway constantly advocates to get the best possible rates and agreements for our entire network, in recognition of the quality care and impact you all deliver. While assessments do not independently demonstrate clinical effectiveness, they help plans like Horizon understand member engagement and can offer you and your clients an additional way to track progress.
Will clients also be able to see the results?
If your client would like to view their results, you can download and securely send your clients their assessments directly.
- To download, navigate to the Client tab. Select a client and click on the Assessments tab. Then click Manage and Download all assessments from the dropdown menu.
- To download individual results, click on the individual assessment result and then Download PDF.
What are assessments?
Assessments are brief clinically validated questionnaires that can help you identify care needs, evaluate treatment effectiveness, and give clients a better sense of their progress. Read more here.
When will the first and follow-up assessments be sent?
By default, initial assessments will be sent two days before the first session, and the follow-up assessments will be sent on a recurring 30-day cadence. That said, you can customize these settings for a given client from that client’s profile, under the Assessments tab.
Can I complete assessments live with my client during a session?
If you prefer to complete assessments live with your clients, you also have the option to fill them out on their behalf during the session.
Can we bill 96127 (code for administering PROMs)?
No, we currently do not provide the option to bill CPT code 96127. If this changes in the future, we will be sure to notify you of the change ahead of time.