Posts Tagged Compliance

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Medical Coding Expert Doug Palmer Talks About the Future: Computer-Assisted Coding, and ICD-10

Doug Palmer is a practice management, billing and coding and revenue cycle consultant with over 17 years of experience in the industry. He was nice enough to answer some questions for our readers about his experiences and where he sees coding going in the future.

Medical Records

 MMP: How did you get started in coding?

Doug:  I started in the industry as a medical biller with a billing company in NY City. In a rather short period of time, I became familiar with the coding systems (COT, ICD-9, and HCPCS) and began to want to know more. I also wanted to know more about the overall Revenue Cycle Process. That starting point in billing led me to coding for several reasons. Aside from personal and professional development, I realized that I would be more marketable with that skill set. I was right. As I learned more and more about coding…more and more opportunities seemed to come my way.

MMP: What type of coding education and certification do you have?

Doug: I have gotten most of my education in coding “on the job”. I have attended many seminars, CEU courses, internal education opportunities with employers, etc., however, I have never matriculated into any formal or long term courses of study in coding other than a BS in Health Administration which did not specifically focus on coding. At the same time, with my CCS-P Certification through AHIMA, I have taught coding and related courses both in a formal classroom environment in several adult education schools as well as providing on site education as well as web based instruction to other coders as well as medical providers across the country.

MMP: What was your first coding consultant position and how did it come about?

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Posted in: Collections, Billing & Coding, Compliance

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David Brooks of qliqSoft Talks to Us about Secure Communications, Replacing the SMS, and BYOD

a picture of David Brooks of qliqSoft, interviewed in this post

 

Last week Mary Pat and I had a chance to meet and sit down for a while with a smart guy whose new venture is doing some really exciting things in the healthcare space. One of our favorite things to do! In an effort to keep on readers on the edge of what’s new, and to give more of the people we meet a chance to say hello and connect to our audience, we present the first in the MMP Interview series.

We first got in touch with David when he commented on one of our 2.0 Tuesday posts on Medigram– a new, private beta secure communications service. David let us know that Medigram wasn’t the only player in the space, and we agreed to meet for coffee and a chat. We got a chance to sit down with David soon after for a coffee and a demo of his company’s flagship product qliqConnect– also currently in Beta.

David is a sharp, passionate guy, and we loved having the chance to talk to him. Check out the interview below!

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Posted in: Day-to-Day Operations, Electronic Medical Records, General, Innovation

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2.0 Tuesday: ONC Offers Compliance Guidelines, BYOD In The Practice, And A Shazam App For Heartbeats

As managers, providers and employees, we always have to be looking ahead at how the technology on our horizon will affect how our organizations administer health care. In the spirit of looking forward to the future, we present “2.0 Tuesday”, a feature on Manage My Practice about how technology is impacting our practices, and our patient and population outcomes.

We hope you enjoy looking ahead with us, and share your ideas, reactions and comments below!

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Posted in: 2.0 Tuesday, General

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The Best of Manage My Practice – November, 2011 Edition

In between polishing off leftover turkey and stuffing, we’re looking back over some of our most popular posts from the month in case you might’ve missed them the first go round. Thankfully Presenting, The Best of Manage My Practice, November 2011!

We’ve started this monthly wrap-up to make sure you don’t miss any of the great stuff we post throughout the month on Manage My Practice, but we also want to hear from you! What were your favorite posts and discussions this month? Did we skip over your favorite from November? Let us know in the comments!

Posted in: A Career in Practice Management, General, Leadership

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Stark, False Claims and Anti-Kickback Laws: Easy Ways to Stay Compliant with the Big Three in Healthcare

In health care, we are “blessed” with an abundance of rules, policies, standards and laws. In Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation, and Compromise, Robert I. Field, professor of health management and policy at Drexel University School of Public Health, observes the following:

 “Regulation shapes all aspects of America’s fragmented health care industry, from the flow of dollars to the communication between physicians and patients. It is the engine that translates public policy into action. While the health and lives of patients, as well as almost one-sixth of the national economy depend on its effectiveness, health care regulation in America is bewilderingly complex.”

Here are some of the most important regulations in health care that you should not only know about, but should be actively managing with a robust compliance plan.

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Posted in: Collections, Billing & Coding, Compliance, Day-to-Day Operations, General

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ARRA Changes Rules for HIPAA – Did You Miss These Three February Deadlines?

With so much going on in healthcare, it would not surprise me if a lot of practices missed the February 2010 deadline for three expanded HIPAA rules.  This expansion was dictated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act passed by Congress in February 2009.

If you haven’t already, get started now with the new requirements.

  1. New obligations for business associates (BA) – February 17, 2010 Remember that a BA is a person or organization outside of your entity with whom you share protected health information (PHI) so they may provide services to you.  Good examples are your billing service, collection agency, attorney, consultant, computer vendors, attorneys and providers of documentation abstracting or coding services.  Under HITECH, BA have the same responsibilities for breaches as the healthcare entity does, but it is the healthcare organization’s responsibility to have an updated, signed BA agreement in place that describes this new responsibility.  Here is an excellent example of a BA agreement (first link under Publications) that you can download and tweak for your practice.
  2. New disclosure agreement provision – February 18, 2010 This is a big one! Patients now may waive their right to have you file their medical insurance, pay for your services themselves and request that their medical information NOT be disclosed to their insurance plan or any other entity.  In other words, patients may elect to become “self-insured”.  I recommend that you create a new financial class for these patients so they neither fall into the standard self-pay/financial assistance class or into their actual insurance class.  These patients, if you have any, will need to be identified according to their wishes, which could mean that they want you to file insurance for some services and not for others.  This means their record must be tagged for what records can be released and what records cannot.  There could be an argument made either way for whether or not these patients should receive self-pay discounts that you have in place for your non-insured patients.  I would be interested to know how different groups have decided to handle this.  There are sample forms for PHI disclosure accounting and for patients to request an accounting of PHI disclosures in the Manage My Practice Library under Operations.
  3. Information breach notification – February 22, 2010
    We’ve heard a lot about this one as the media (along with HHS) must now be notified if a PHI breach involves 500 people or more.  Breaches are being reported weekly as non-encrypted laptops are stolen or repurposed, and as copier hard drives (story here) go unnoticed as a security risk.  If a breach involves 500 people or less, each individual must receive written notice with details of the breach, the information disclosed, and the steps being taken by the practice or entity to avoid any future breaches, as well as explaining the rights of the patient(s) in protecting their private healthcare information.  Several of my employees have received notification letters from health plans and they have been horrified that this could happen.  Note that entities that secure health information through encryption or destruction don’t have to provide notification in the event of a breach!

Enforcement is also beefed up.
Criminal penalties will apply to covered entities that violate privacy rules AND to those organizations’ individual employees (can you track who accesses whose records when?)  Civil penalties have been increased and harmed individuals may share in the booty.  Probably most importantly, HITECH gives state attorneys general the power to enforce HIPAA rules.

Other resources:

HHS FAQ on HIPAA Privacy

AMA HIPAA Resources

Healthcare Blog Listing

Posted in: Compliance, Day-to-Day Operations, Electronic Medical Records, Headlines

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Best Practices in Developing an Orientation Program for Your New Medical Practice Employees

© Bernad | Dreamstime.com

My personal list of new employee orientation best practices has been shaped by my experiences in private practices as well as hospitals. Every organization has different resources to draw upon, but each group has core goals that must be fulfilled by a good orientation:

  • completion of paperwork including federal and state W-4s, I-9, direct deposit and benefit elections
  • emergency contact information (included in hospital employee health intake)
  • orientation to the organization, including designations, specialties, departments, sites, affiliates and an organizational chart
  • completion of mandatory annual training such as safety, standard precautions, and HIPAA
  • mechanics of name tags, parking tags, lockers, keys and codes
  • signing off on understanding and agreement to confidentiality, compliance and personnel policies

In addition to these core goals, critical information to be shared during this time should minimally include:

  • personnel policy review with emphasis on important (typically abused?) policies
  • code of conduct/ shared basic competencies (mission and values, professionalism, communication, chain of command)
  • computer security (passwords, internet policy, protection of PHI)
  • workstation ergonomics and patient lifting policy (sadly lacking in many medical practices)

Important training that is rarely covered:

  • Customer service (what is it and how do we measure our success or lack thereof?)
  • Cultural sensitivity and diversity training
  • Non-clinical employees’ role in medical emergencies
  • Personal safety (coming in early or leaving late, patients threatening staff by phone or in person)
  • Expectations for the first 90 days (training, communication, questions, problems)

Making Orientation Memorable

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Posted in: Human Resources

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What Does a Medical Practice Manager Do?

clockWhether the title is manager, medical practice manager, physician practice manager, administrator, practice administrator, executive director, office manager, CEO, COO, director, division manager, department manager, or any combination thereof, with some exceptions, people who manage physician practices do some combination of the responsibilities listed here or manage people who do.

Human Resources: Hire, fire, counsel, discipline, evaluate, train, orient, coach, mentor and schedule staff. Shop, negotiate and administer benefits. (more…)

Posted in: A Career in Practice Management, Leadership

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What Health Care Providers Need To Know About Medicare and the RAC

Carla Hannibal

By Carla Hannibal, CMM,CPM,CIMBS

Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) will pursue corrections of Medicare claims by auditing for overpayments and underpayments under Part A or B of the title XVIII of the Social Security Act.  Health care providers will be affected as Medicare has recently contracted with RACs for 2009 and beyond.  RACs will audit every United States and Peurto Rico health care provider who files with Medicare.  The audit and recovery plan is expected to be in place by (more…)

Posted in: Headlines, Medicare & Reimbursement

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