Welcome to...

by Healthcare Business Specialists
Email: marklynn@healthcarebusinessspecialists.com
Suite 214, 502 Shadow Parkway
Chattanooga, TN 37421
Tele: (423) 899-0945
Fax: (800) 268-5055
Welcome to the Healthcare Business
Specialists home page dedicated to Rural Health Clinics (RHCs). We have designed this
site to provide the latest information on rural health clinics and information
on Rural Health Clinic Update and RHC Boot Camp seminars. The seminars cover Medicare cost reporting, billing, annual evaluations, certification,
and the operation of RHCs as certified by Medicare under Public Law 95-210. We hope that
you find the website helpful to you and please let us know if there is something
we can do to make the website more useful.
Healthcare
Business Specialists is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based consulting firm
which specializes in rural health clinic reimbursement and prepares rural health
clinic cost reports, annual evaluations, Quality Improvement plans, and RHC
startups. Mark R. Lynn is trained as a certified public accountant and has over
29 years experience in the healthcare field with almost 20 years of experience
devoted almost exclusively to rural health clinics. We have been conducting
rural health clinic seminars for over 15 years and each year over 80% of our
attendees have been to one of our seminars in the past.
HBS
Update January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012:
Several people have been asking about our RHC seminars for 2012. I am working on
the materials and how to sign up at this time; however, if you want to save the
date. Here are the locations and the dates. This year we will be doing something
different. We will be doing a morning seminar on Billing from 9:00 to 12:00 and
and an afternoon seminar on cost reporting and annual evaluations from 1:00 to
4:00. We wanted to spend more time in these basics as some people have been
having problems in these areas and we wanted to go back through the basics to
ensure everyone understood the basics. The Seminar schedules will be as
follows:
Billing: The
cost of this session is $200.00 and includes the booklet/handouts and DVD.
9:00 to 9:55
The Building Blocks - What to do once you have become a rural health clinic -
How to get Started.
10:00 to 10:55
How rural health clinic billing differs from RBRVS billing and some basic
concepts/
11:00 to 12:00
The Ten Most difficult Questions to answer regarding RHC billing and how to
increase the revenues of your RHC.
Lunch is on your
own.
Cost Report: The
cost of this session is $200.00 and includes the booklet/handouts and DVD
1:00 to 1:55
What is the cost report, why it is important, what can go wrong, base year
strategies, MACs, what is needed to complete a cost report.
2:00 to 2:55
Preparation of the cost report. Counting Visits. Physician compensation issues,
Working with the MACs, Appeals, Preparing Workpapers, and a sample cost report.
3:00 to 3:55
Annual Evaluations. Why they are important? How to conduct one? When are
they due? Files to assist you in preparing them.
If you go to both
sessions, the cost will be $300.00. Here are the locations, dates, and hotels.
Date
City Hotel
March 29, 2012 Birmingham, Alabama Embassy Suites
March 30, 2012 Nashville,
Tennessee Embassy Suites
April 5, 2012 London, Kentucky Country Inns and Suites
April 6, 2012 Indianapolis, Indiana Med-Mate Corporate
April 19, 2012 Savannah, Georgia Hyatt Regency
April 20, 2012 Columbia, South Carolina Embassy Suites
April 26, 2012 Little Rock, Arkansas Embassy Suites
April 27, 2012 St. Louis, Missouri Crowne Plaza
May 1, 2011. The
latest newsletter on Rural Health clinics is attached below:
2011
HBS Update May 1 2011.pdf
|
Description |
Page |
|
Seasonal Vaccines would be a condition of participation under proposed
rules affecting RHCs |
2 |
|
HIT Grant Announced |
6 |
|
More Technology Information |
7 |
|
How new RHCs should process claims. Worksheet 14. |
8 |
|
CPT Coding Presentation by Carolyn Duncan, CPT, CPT-H |
10 |
This is the form that RHCs can use
to settle with Cahaba during the start up process.
2011 Retroactive Recognition Worksheet from Cahaba called Worksheet 14 for Part
B claims during the new startup phase.xlsx
This presentation on CPT Coding will be
conducted on May 6, 2011 in St. Louis.
2011 CPT Coding Presentation by Carolyn
Duncan in St Louis MO on May 6 2011.ppt
HBS
Update Newsletter Dated April 5, 2011
We just completed the April 5, 2011 HBS
Update Newsletter. There is a lot of interesting reading information in this
newsletter regarding rural health clinics. As a reminder the RHC Update seminars
start on Thursday in Nashville and Friday in Knoxville. It is not too late to
register. Here is the table of contents to the April 5th newsletter.
HBS Update Newsletter Dated
April 5, 2011
Please check out our sponsors for the RHC
Update Seminars
Indianapolis, IN
http://www.medmate.com/
Columbia, SC
http://www.mdeverywhere.com/
|
Description |
Page |
|
Have RHCs reached the tipping point? |
2 |
|
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers |
4 |
|
RHC Reimbursement |
5 |
|
General Information on Medicare and Medicaid |
6 |
|
Cahaba
and Trailblazer mail P S and R reports |
7 |
|
Status of Proposed Rules and Republican budget would kill RHCs |
8 |
|
Patient Centered Medical Home |
9 |
|
Electronic Health Records Notes from NARHC meeting |
10 |
|
RHC Update Seminars |
16 |
HBS
Update Newsletter Dated March 31, 2011
I just wanted to remind you that the
RHC Update seminars are starting next Thursday, April 7th in
Nashville and April 8th in Knoxville. The seminars start at 9:30 AM
in the morning so it is easy to drive in to them without paying for a hotel. The
seminar in Nashville is really getting full, so let us know soon if you want to
go. Also, cost reporting is in full swing, so get your information into me as
soon as possible. I am looking forward to seeing you at the seminars this
spring. You may want to check our website (www.ruralhealthclinic.com) in the
next few days to view some of the presentations that will be made next week.
If you missed the NARHC conference in
San Antonio last week you missed Susan Harr, MPR, CPHIMS, program director of
the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (the Iowa Regional Extension Center) rave
about the service of SuccessEHS based in Birmingham, AL. If you want to know
more about their product and about EHR stimulus payments attend our Nashville
meeting and hear Adele Allison, National Director of Government Affairs from
SuccessEHS speak. Additionally, the Nashville seminar will feature Julie Rogers,
Marsha Holman, and Greg Hawkins from the Comptroller’s office discussing how to
properly complete the Tenncare Quarterly Reports. This is very important for
Tennessee RHCs as a very large majority of the benefit of being a rural health
clinic is derived from these reports and there are no written instructions. This
is your chance to ask questions regarding this important subject.
Great news for clinics that have
Cahaba as your MAC. Cahaba mailed out P S and R reports last week, so look for
them in the mail soon. The IACS system is still causing problems for providers
and very few are able to retrieve their reports. Thankfully, Cahaba recognized
this problem and mailed the reports. Hopefully, the other MACS will follow suit.
Bad news is that the $505 fee went into effect on March 25, 2011 for new RHCs
and recertification (you will be recertified every 5 years and have to complete
an 855A in some cases). Clinics will use pay.gov to
pay the fee using a credit card or echeck. Sorry, I did not get every
855A completed by the deadline. We gave it a good effort; but, the NARHC meeting
in San Antonio got in the way.
Washington is the rules for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will be
released today. I would review those regulations closely before you are
purchased by a hospital or physician group, just to make sure the merger still
makes sense. The rules will guide provider
organizations in setting up exchanges of healthcare data to improve care and
reduce costs, as mandated under the Accountable Care Act.
Speaking of EHR Stimulus payments, they are real and being paid out. The
government has sent out $37 million so far in stimulus payments. Get your share.
Find out how my coming to our seminars this spring.
If you missed the presentation by Marjorie Young, Executive Director of Pine
Medical Group, Fremont, Michigan at the NARHC meeting you missed a lot of real
world information on how to become an accredited patient centered medical home.
I was surprised how fast they achieved accreditation. It only took them 3 weeks
to achieve Level 1 and 3 months to get to Level 3 if my memory serves me
correctly. Here are some resources if you are interested in this next step in
this new healthcare delivery of care model.
NCQA Standards can be found here:
This is the service Pine Medical uses for e-prescribing:
This is the patient registry service that Pine Medical uses:
-
Spring,
2011 RHC Update Seminars
2011
RHC Spring Update Seminar Brochure Page 1.pdf
2011
RHC Update Seminar Spring Brochure Page 2.pdf
2011 RHC
Update Seminar Registration Form.pdf
Healthcare Business Specialists is
pleased to announce that the RHC Spring Update seminars have been scheduled for
2011. The dates and locations are Nashville, Tennessee on April 7, 2011,
Knoxville, Tennessee on April 8, 2011, Indianapolis on April 22, 2011, Columbia, SC
on April 29, 2011, and St. Louis, MO on May 6, 2011. We will start at 9:30 and run till
noon. We will have 1 hour break for lunch which will be provided from 12:00
to 1:00 pm. The seminar will then run from 1:00 to 3:30 pm in the afternoon.
Orange Juice, Coffee, and soft drinks will be served at the seminars.
Each seminar will
have special guests invited to talk about relevant topics for the State that we
are in. For example, Greg Hawkins, Julie Rogers, and Marsha Holman from the
State of Tennessee are confirmed as speakers for our meeting in Nashville on the
preparation of the Quarterly Tenncare Settlement Reports.
Glen H.
Beussink, Director of Clinic Development &
Research from Midwest Health Care, Inc. will
be presenting on Tenncare Settlement Reports with the State as well. We
will update you on any additional speakers that we may have at the meetings.
If you
would like to speak or sponsor a meeting, please let me know as we can arrange
for you to sponsor the meeting and will provide some time to discuss your
product with the seminar attendees.
The price of the seminar will be
$250.00 per person for the full day The printed materials including full color slides is not a part of the
fee and if you want to obtain the Workbook the cost is $125 per notebook and the
notebook will include a DVD with all the presentations and additional
information related to RHCs. Again, the Workbook is an additional fee from the
seminar fee.
Payment can be made to
la_vita_nouva@hotmail.com using PayPal or by sending a check to Mark Lynn,
Healthcare Business Specialists at Suite 214, 502 Shadow Parkway, Chattanooga, TN 37421.
You can sign up online and pay with Visa, Mastercard, and Discover credit cards.
We do not accept American Express.
What you missed last
year. Here are some of the presentations that we presented at the 2010 RHC
Update Seminars. Much of the information is still applicable so you may find it
helpful. This year's seminar will be completely updated with new information. We
do expect new regulations for RHCs be finalized by the time the seminars are
conducted this year so much of the seminar will be dedicated to quality
improvement, potential loss of RHC status and potential safeguards, and all the
provisions that may change due to the new final conditions of participation.
Here are the presentations:
2010 RHC Update Presentation on
Healthcare Reform, ACOs, and PCMHs
2010 Electronic Health Records Stimulus Payments for RHCs Presentation as of
December 10 2010.pdf
2010 RHC Billing 101 Presentation in Boise Idaho on November 3 2010.pdf
2010 RHC Billing 102 Presentation for Boise Idaho presentation on November 3
2010.pdf
If you want sign up for the
seminars, here are the hyperlinks
RHC Update Seminar in Nashville, TN on April 7,
2011
RHC Update Seminar in Knoxville, TN on April 8,
2011
RHC Update Seminar in Indianapolis, Indiana on
April 22, 2011
Atlanta,
Georgia RHC Update Seminar on April 28 2011
RHC Update Seminar in Columbia, SC on April 29, 2011
RHC Update Seminar in St. Louis, MO on May 6, 2011
The St. Louis seminar will feature Carolyn Duncan,
BS, CPC, CPC-H, from Health Care
Consulting Services in Shawnee, Kansas. Carolyn will present from 8:00 AM to
9:30 AM on CPT Coding for Rural Health Clinics. This session is an add on to our
normal update seminar and is an additional charge of $75.00 to attend. You are
not required to sign up for this session to attend the RHC Update Seminar, nor
do you have to attend the CPT Coding for Rural Health Clinics session to attend
the RHC Update seminars. In other words, if you only want to attend one of the
seminars there is no requirement to attend both. If you want to contact Carolyn
regarding her services or the content of the seminar here is her contact
information.
Carolyn
Duncan, BS, CPC, CPC-H
Health Care Consulting Services
21019 W 61st St.
Shawnee, KS 66218
913-422-0342 or 816-797-1753 cell
Again, this session is only in St.
Louis and is from 8:00 am to 9:30 and additional cost to attend the session is
$75.00. Carolyn and I will be doing an RHC billing session in Kansas City,
Missouri on Thursday, September 29th. The morning session will be CPT coding for
rural health clinics by Carolyn and will cost $150 and the afternoon session
from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm with RHC Billing with Mark Lynn being the instructor and
the cost is $150 for this as well.
HBS
Update Newsletter Dated February 15, 2011
The latest issue of
HBS Update which includes new proposed regulations for RHCs, a new MAC for Ohio
and Kentucky, Medicare cost
reporting information, Electronic
Health Records and More. Here is the Table of Contents.
|
Description |
Page |
|
RHCs must provide notice to beneficiaries |
2 |
|
Cigna is the new MAC for Ohio & Kentucky |
3 |
|
Medicare Cost Report Books Mailed |
5 |
|
Pre-existing Condition Insurance Handout |
7 |
|
Electronic Health Records |
7 |
|
EHR Stimulus Eligibility Flowchart |
8 |
|
RHC Update Seminars for Spring, 2011 |
9 |
|
Website Changes and Site Map |
14 |
Here is the link to the file:
2011 HBS Update Newsletter Dated February 15 2011.pdf
The new seminar brochure is complete and
is being mailed to 2,400 RHCs next week. Look for it in the mail.
2011
RHC Spring Update Seminar Brochure Page 1.pdf
2011
RHC Update Seminar Spring Brochure Page 2.pdf
HBS
Cost Reporting Information for 2011
February 15, 2011. The RHC Cost Report
Notebooks have been mailed for 2011. If you do not receive your notebook in the
next couple days, please let me know. Here is some of the information that was
mailed to our cost report clients this week.
2011 Cover Letter for Cost Report Notebook on February 11 2011.doc
2011 RHC Cost Report
Checklist.pdf
2011 RHC Cost Report Medicare Workpapers New Information for 2011.pdf
2011
RHC Spring Update Seminar Brochure Page 1.pdf
2011
RHC Update Seminar Spring Brochure Page 2.pdf
Here is form from Blue Cross that
describes the UB-04 Form Locators
http://www.ibx.com/pdfs/providers/npi/ub04_form.pdf
HBS
Update Newsletter Dated February 7, 2011
Here is our latest
newsletter as of February 7, 2011.
2011 HBS Update Newsletter Dated February 7 2011.pdf
Here is the Table
of Contents
NARHC
Technical Assistance Phone Call .. ……….. … . Page 2
New
information on RHC Update Seminars ………… . ...Page 3
Billing
Information…………………………………..………… … Page 4
New
regulations regarding Compliance and Fraud …… ..Page 5
` RHC Cost Report Checklist for 2011…………………………..Page 6
NCQA issues patient centered medical home standards. .Page 7
RHC
Update Seminars………………………………................. Page 8
RHC Seminar Registration Forms for 2011…………… ….Page 11
Website
Changes……………………………………………………. .Page 13
RHC
Cost Report Checklist for 2011
February 7, 2011.
The RHC Cost Report Notebooks will be Fed Exed (2 day) on Wednesday, February
9th. If you can not
wait to get started
on the cost report, here is the checklist that will be included in the cost
report notebook.
RHC Cost Report Checklist
for 2011
If you want to sign
up for our 2011 RHC Update Seminars, here is the new registration form.
2011 RHC
Update Seminar Registration Form.pdf
NARHC
Technical Assistance Phone Call on February 10, 2011
February 7, 2011 Date of
Phone Call: Thursday, February 10, 2011; 2-3pm ET
If you
are like most RHCs, small rural hospitals, or critical access hospitals, you
have many patients who are uninsured. Sometimes these uninsured patients cannot
afford insurance because they have little or no income even though they are
relatively healthy. But sometimes, it is because they have a medical condition
that causes them to be classified as “high risk” making the cost of health
insurance prohibitive or making the individual “uninsurable.”
As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Congress authorized
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish – either in
conjunction with the states or independently – an insurance program for
so-called “high risk” individuals. The program, called the Pre-existing
Condition Insurance Plan is now available.
NARHC and the federal Office of Rural Health Policy have arranged for
representatives from the new federal Office of Consumer Information and
Insurance Oversight (OCIIO) to make a presentation about this new program as
part of the Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance series. If you or someone
in your office handles patient billing and comes into contact with patients who
are uninsured, you should plan to listen in on this call. Getting people
enrolled in these newly formed high risk insurance plans can benefit both you
and the patients.
Call-in information:
Thursday, February 10, 2011;
2-3pm ET
-
Phone
number: 866.288.9872
-
Participant Passcode: 13951
New
Information on the RHC
Update Seminars
February 7, 2011
The St. Louis seminar will feature Carolyn Duncan,
BS, CPC, CPC-H, from Health Care
Consulting Services in Shawnee, Kansas. Carolyn will present from 8:00 AM to
9:30 AM on CPT Coding for Rural Health Clinics. This session is an add on to our
normal update seminar and is an additional charge of $75.00 to attend. You are
not required to sign up for this session to attend the RHC Update Seminar, nor
do you have to attend the CPT Coding for Rural Health Clinics session to attend
the RHC Update seminars. In other words, if you only want to attend one of the
seminars there is no requirement to attend both. If you want to contact Carolyn
regarding her services or the content of the seminar here is her contact
information.
Carolyn
Duncan, BS, CPC, CPC-H
Health Care Consulting Services
21019 W 61st St.
Shawnee, KS 66218
913-422-0342 or 816-797-1753 cell
Again, this session is only in St.
Louis and is from 8:00 am to 9:30 and additional cost to attend the session is
$75.00. Carolyn and I will be doing an RHC billing session in Kansas City,
Missouri on Thursday, September 29th. The morning session will be CPT coding for
rural health clinics by Carolyn and will cost $150 and the afternoon session
from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm with RHC Billing with Mark Lynn being the instructor and
the cost is $150 for this as well.
We have added an additional site for
the RHC seminars. Atlanta, Georgia will be on April 28, 2011. The sign up
information for the seminar is in the link below:
Atlanta,
Georgia RHC Update Seminar on April 28 2011
2011 RHC
Update Seminar Registration Form.pdf
2011 RHC
Update Seminar Registration Form.pdf
Billing
Information
February 7,
2011. Here are a couple of links to interesting items that will help you with
rural health clinic billing.
The first is a link to a Medlearn Matters
article on Timely Filing of Claims from Noridian:
https://www.noridianmedicare.com/provider/updates/docs/MM7270Timely_Filing_Changes.pdf
Noridian also has a MSP form that RHCs can
use. This is a one page form.
https://www.noridianmedicare.com/macj3a/claims/msp/msp_form.pdf
Noridian
has provided a list of the questions that need to be asked to Medicare patients
to satisfy Medicare Secondary Payer requirements.
https://www.noridianmedicare.com/macj3a/claims/msp/admission_questions.pdf
Mississippi’s First Nursing-Home Based
Rural Health Clinic Opens in Greenwood is the title of an article in this link.
http://www.msrha.org/files/mrha%20newsletter%20jan%202011.pdf
Medicare
has released a Medlearn Matters Article that indicates clinics can no longer
have the patients bring drugs from the pharmacy and the clinic administer the
drug. This places RHCs at a large disadvantage as some drugs cost 8 to 10 times
the maximum independent RHC reimbursement rate. Here is the link to the Med
Learn Article.
New
Regulations regarding Compliance and Fraud
On January 24, 2011, CMS finalized a rule to implement significant anti-fraud provisions of healthcare reform. The final rules emphasizes
fraud prevention. The majority of the rules are effective on or after March 25, 2011. A summary of the regulations are provided by Alston + Bird LLP
Additional rules were published on February 2, 2010 requiring providers to make available to Medicare beneficiaries information about
their right to file a written complaint with the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) in the State where healthcare services are being or
were provided about the quality of care they are receiving or have received.
If you are confused by these new
rules, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and
Human Services is hosting six free OIG compliance training sessions for
local health care providers, compliance professionals, and their legal
counsel. According to the OIG, the sessions are designed to help
attendees:
- understand the law and the
consequences of violating it.
- Cultivate a culture of
compliance within your health care organization; and
- Learn what to do when a
compliance issue arises.
The sessions will be held over the
next few months in Houston, Tampa, Kansas City, Baton Rouge, Denver, and
Washington, D.C. Space at each training session is limited. More information
(including how to enroll for one of the sessions) can be found on the OIG’s
website
http://compliance.oig.hhs.gov/.
HBS
Update Newsletter for January 21, 2011
January 21, 2011. I finished a 21 page newsletter on rural health clinics
tonight. Here is the Table of Contents. If you would like to read the
newsletter, just click on the hyperlink
2011
HBS Update Newsletter Dated January 21 2011.pdf

RHC
Update Seminars for spring, 2011 Announced – Page 2
We’re not
in Kansas anymore………………………………… . Page 5
Medicare
Preventive Services for 2011……………………....Page 8
Rural
Health Open Door Session next week………………Page 13
Helpful
information from Trailblazer………………………..Page 14
RHC
Reimbursement Rate increased by .4%.................Page 15
Application fee for Provider enrollment and re-valid…..Page 16
New
Medicare Administrative Contractor jurisdictions. Page 17
Website
Changes……………………………………………………..Page 20
-
Spring,
2011 RHC Update Seminars
Atlanta,
Georgia RHC Update Seminar on April 28 2011
2011 RHC
Update Seminar Registration Form.pdf
Healthcare Business Specialists is
pleased to announce that the RHC Spring Update seminars have been scheduled for
2011. The dates and locations are Nashville, Tennessee on April 7, 2011,
Knoxville, Tennessee on April 8, 2011, Indianapolis on April 22, 2011, Columbia, SC
on April 29, 2011, and St. Louis, MO on May 6, 2011. We will start at 9:30 and run till
noon. We will have 1 hour break for lunch which will be provided from 12:00
to 1:00 pm. The seminar will then run from 1:00 to 3:30 pm in the afternoon.
Orange Juice, Coffee, and soft drinks will be served at the seminars.
Each seminar will
have special guests invited to talk about relevant topics for the State that we
are in. For example, Greg Hawkins, Julie Rogers, and Marsha Holman from the
State of Tennessee are confirmed as speakers for our meeting in Nashville on the
preparation of the Quarterly Tenncare Settlement Reports.
Glen H.
Beussink, Director of Clinic Development &
Research from Midwest Health Care, Inc. will
be presenting on Tenncare Settlement Reports with the State as well. We
will update you on any additional speakers that we may have at the meetings.
If you
would like to speak or sponsor a meeting, please let me know as we can arrange
for you to sponsor the meeting and will provide some time to discuss your
product with the seminar attendees.
The price of the seminar will be
$250.00 per person for the full day The printed materials including full color slides is not a part of the
fee and if you want to obtain the Workbook the cost is $125 per notebook and the
notebook will include a DVD with all the presentations and additional
information related to RHCs. Again, the Workbook is an additional fee from the
seminar fee.
Payment can be made to
la_vita_nouva@hotmail.com using PayPal or by sending a check to Mark Lynn,
Healthcare Business Specialists at Suite 214, 502 Shadow Parkway, Chattanooga, TN 37421.
You can sign up online and pay with Visa, Mastercard, and Discover credit cards.
We do not accept American Express.
What you missed last
year. Here are some of the presentations that we presented at the 2010 RHC
Update Seminars. Much of the information is still applicable so you may find it
helpful. This year's seminar will be completely updated with new information. We
do expect new regulations for RHCs be finalized by the time the seminars are
conducted this year so much of the seminar will be dedicated to quality
improvement, potential loss of RHC status and potential safeguards, and all the
provisions that may change due to the new final conditions of participation.
Here are the presentations:
2010 RHC Update Presentation on
Healthcare Reform, ACOs, and PCMHs
2010 Electronic Health Records Stimulus Payments for RHCs Presentation as of
December 10 2010.pdf
2010 RHC Billing 101 Presentation in Boise Idaho on November 3 2010.pdf
2010 RHC Billing 102 Presentation for Boise Idaho presentation on November 3
2010.pdf
If you want sign up for the
seminars, here are the hyperlinks
RHC Update Seminar in Nashville, TN on April 7,
2011
RHC Update Seminar in Knoxville, TN on April 8,
2011
RHC Update Seminar in Indianapolis, Indiana on
April 22, 2011
RHC Update Seminar in Columbia, SC on April 29, 2011
RHC Update Seminar in St. Louis, MO on May 6, 2011
RHC Update and
Billing Seminars

We are sending out a postcard next week on
our rural health clinic and billing seminars so look for it in the mail. We have
added dates in Dallas, Orlando, and Sacramento so look for those dates as well.
Here is the link to the postcard that will be in the mail. The update seminars
will feature information on medical homes, bundled payment, and accountable
health organizations as well as the latest information on the Electronic Health
Records Stimulus payments. The morning session will be all legislative changes
and Electronic Health Records and the afternoon sessions are related to RHC
Billing, Cost Reporting, and Annual Evaluations. If you would like to only
attend the morning session, the fee is $150.00 or the afternoon session the fee
is $150.00 as well. You do not have to be a rural health clinic to benefit from
the information presented in the morning session. Here is the link:
2010
RHC Update Fall Seminar Brochure Page 1.pdf
2010 RHC Update Brochure
Page 2.pdf
Here are
the links to register for the seminars. Let us know if you have a problem with
any of them. Thank you.
RHC Update
Seminar in Nashville, TN on September 16, 2010
RHC Update
Seminar in Knoxville, TN on September 17, 2010
RHC Update
Seminar in Birmingham, AL on October 8, 2010
RHC
Update Seminar in Sacramento, CA on November 12, 2010
RHC Update
Seminar in Dallas, TX on November 19, 2010
RHC
Update Seminar in Orlando FL on December 10, 2010
Kansas City,
MO RHC 101 Billing Seminar on September 30, 2010
Reno, NV RHC 101
Billing Seminar on October 19, 2010
November
1, 2010: Sorry, I have not been on the site for a while. I have been to
the National Association of Rural Health Clinics meeting in Reno, NV and the
National Rural Health Association in Kansas City meeting over the last month,
plus I have been doing our Update and Billing Seminars. Tomorrow, I head out
West to Boise, Idaho and will be speaking at the Idaho and RHC & CAH Conference
on RHC Billing 101 and 102. If you want to look at the presentations that we
will be giving here are copies for you to review. We will be going over material
like this in our RHC Update Seminars. Remember we have Sacramento, Dallas, and
Orlando still to go in 2010.
2010 RHC Billing 101 Presentation in Boise Idaho on November 3 2010.pdf
2010 RHC Billing 102 Presentation for Boise Idaho presentation on November 3
2010.pdf
2010 Rural Health Clinic Billing 101 Outline for Boise Idaho on November 3
2010.pdf
A couple
of resources that you may be interested in.
Encore
presentations on Billing from Trailblazer:
Trailblazer Encore Presentations
This is a
really nice document from the Colorado Office of Rural Health. It is a two page
billing summary for rural health clinics.
http://www.coruralhealth.org/programs/rhc/documents/billingreference.pdf
The NCQA
has released proposed standards for Accountable Care Organizations with a
comment period through November 19, 2010. If you are interested in ACOs and
their formation, you may want to look this over and comment.
http://www.ncqa.org/portals/0/publiccomment/ACO/ACO%20Criteria_Public_Comment.pdf
Here is
some information on Tobacco Cessation services from Medicare:
http://www.cms.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM7133.pdf
September
14, 2010: More documents for the RHC Update Seminars that start this week. I was
going to only release this information at the seminar; but, I changed my mind
and here it is. This is the benchmarking report from the 2009 cost reports that
includes information on physician compensations, visits per provider, and other
valuable information.
2010 Cost Reporting Benchmarking Report for Fall RHC seminar.pdf
September
13, 2010: I am working on some documents for our RHC Update seminars this week
and completed this summary of questions and answers from a Q and A session
sponsored by HRSA last week. It was conducted by the NARHC and the document
summarizes the questions and answers. Here is the link:
2010 Questions and Answers from September 8 2010 Q and A session from HRSA
September
1, 2010: I am working on the Health Reform section of the presentation and found
a great resource with lots of links to videos and information on health reform.
Here is the link to a 18 page PDF dated June 17, 2010.
http://www.allhealth.org/publications/Uninsured/Reporting_on_Health_Reform_99.pdf
August 28, 2010:
We have started a blog located on Wordpress.com were you may make comments on
this information. Here is the link:
http://healthcarebusinessspecialists.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/small-physician-practices-face-uphill-battle-with-health-care-reform/
Healthcare reform is pushing the creation of entities called medical homes,
accountable care organizations, and bundled payments. If you want to learn more
about these organizations or how to establish one, here is a good website.
http://www.chqpr.org/
Accountable care organizations, electronic health records, economic pressures,
and health reform is placing much more pressure on solo practices and small
rural health clinics. So far
the percentage of doctors
practicing solo dropped from 41 percent in 1983 to 25 percent in 2008, and
the portion of physicians in groups of six or less fell from 53 percent in 1997
to 42 percent in 2005. More and more young physicians, in particular, are going
to work for hospital-owned groups. According to an oft-quoted study from the
Center for Studying Health System Change, the percentage of physicians who are
solo practitioners or are practicing in groups of fewer than 6 physicians fell
from 53% in 1996 - 1997 to 42% in 2004 - 2005.
Here is an article on this
http://www.bnet.com/blog/healthcare-business/why-small-medical-practices-are-doomed-whether-doctors-like-it-or-not/1676
Rural
health clinics were notably left out of the Medicare electronic health records
stimulus payments and Senator Cantwell from Washington State has written a
letter addressing this inequity. Here is the link.
http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=327283
August 26, 2010: We have a
sample of the presentation on healthcare reform and some of the slides we will
be using in our Fall RHC Update Seminar Series. This is a 31 page PDF and has
lots of interesting information in it. Let us know of any ways to improve it or
if we are missing something that you are interested in. Here is the link:
2010 Legislative Healthcare Reform presentation For RHC Update Seminar in Fall
2010.pdf
Another
update on the seminar in Nashville. Glen H. Beussink, Director of Clinic
Development & Research from Midwest Health Care, Inc. will be presenting on
Tenncare Quarterly Settlements and some interesting information and tips he has
for completing these important reimbursement forms.
In
addition, Dale Rothenberg of Doctors Management, Inc will be attending the
Knoxville, Tennessee seminar and will provide assistance and sponsorship of the
meeting in Knoxville. We will be revealing our 2010 Benchmarking Report from our
2010 RHC Cost Report clinics which includes average number visits by provider,
charges, and compensation data. This information is only available to
attendees of the seminar and our clients. We will not post this information on
the website or in a newsletter form. The only way to find this information out
is to attend the seminars or be our client.
August 25, 2010: This is an
old OIG Report that includes information about an RHC visit and a hospital visit
on the same day. Here is the link:
2001 Hutchinson OIG Report with RHC Visit information on page 21.pdf
August 20, 2010: The
American Medical Association released a very good summary (4 pages) of the
Electronic Health Record Incentive payment regulations. Here is the link:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/472/ehr-medicaid-incentive-summary.pdf
Another
good document on EHR and healthcare reform. These are slides from a presentation
in Tennessee.
www.tamho.org/tamho-admin/cms_pushdoc.php?fileId=107
August 19, 2010:
On August 17th CMS issued guidance to State Medicaid Directors
regarding implementation of section 4201
of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act), Pub.
L. 111-5, and recently published regulations at 42 CFR Part 495, Subpart D.
Section 4201, allowing the payment of incentives to eligible professionals (EPs)
and eligible hospitals to promote the adoption and meaningful use of certified
electronic health record (EHR) technology.
The
Recovery Act provides 100 percent Federal financial participation (FFP) to
States for incentive payments to eligible Medicaid providers to adopt,
implement, upgrade, and meaningfully use certified EHR technology, and 90
percent FFP for State administrative expenses related to the program. To view a
copy of this 19 page letter, please follow the link:
https://www.cms.gov/smdl/downloads/SMD10016.pdf
August
19, 2010: If you are not familiar with the regional extension center (RECs)
which provide Electronic Health Records consulting services to physician
clinics, hospitals, and rural health clinics and are funded from Recovery funds,
thus providing either free or minimal cost consulting services here is a listing
of the centers.
http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1495&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=11&mode=2&in_hi_userid=10741&cached=true
These
Centers provide excellent information on the implementation of the Electronic
Health Records Stimulus payment program as for example, this form developed by
the Iowa REC (http://www.IowaHITREC.org).
These regional centers should be one of the first
places you look for information as you move towards implementing Electronic
Health Records.

August 19, 2010: Here is a listing
of CMS Regional Rural Health Coordinators that can be used when starting RHCs
and can be found in our 2010 RHC Update Seminar CD in the Annual Evaluation Tab:
http://www.cms.gov/OpenDoorForums/Downloads/CMSRuralHealthCoordinatorsMay2009.pdf
August 18: Our
latest newsletter has a comprehensive table of health care reform implementation
dates.
For
a copy of our latest newsletter follow the link:
2010 HBS Update Newsletter Dated August 18 2010 with health reform timetable
2010
HBS Update Newsletter Dated August 11 2010.pdf
2010
RHC Update Fall Seminar Brochure Page 1.pdf
2010 RHC Update Brochure
Page 2.pdf
Electronic Health
Records Stimulus Payments Information
August 18, 2010. There are
two teleconferences on Electronic Health Records Stimulus payments in the next
week. One is this afternoon at 1:00 Eastern and the other is on August 25, 2010.
If you have not signed up for our RHC Update seminars we will spend 1 hour and
1/2 or so on this very important subject and provide important handouts that
will help you with your EMR Stimulus Payments. Here is the notice for
teleconferences:
"ONC Overview of the Temporary
Certification Program for Electronic Health Record (EHR) Technology: The
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is hosting a series of
informational calls the purpose of which is to provide an overview of, and
answer questions related to, the temporary certification program for electronic
health record (EHR) technology. In this ONC-hosted event, participants will hear
an overview of the program and be able to ask questions. Recordings and
transcripts for each call will be made available on the ONC web site. See the
Health IT/Certification program link below for more information.
Date: August, 18, 2010
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EDT
Call-in Information: 888-324-9617, participant pass code: 4584230
Date: August 25, 2010
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm EDT
Call-in Information: 888-324-9617, participant pass code: 4584230
If you missed the previous phone calls,
here are handouts and training provided by CMS.
August 11, 2010 Training for Hospitals [PDF, 285KB]
August 10, 2010 Training for Eligible Professionals [PDF, 331KB]
July 22, 2010 Training CMS EHR Incentive Programs and Meaningful Use Final Rule
Slides [PDF, 298KB]
July 22, 2010 Training ONC Temp Certification Process and Certification
Standards Final Rule Slides [PDF, 126KB]
August
17, 2010: Here is the latest RHC Update Brochure for our seminars. Please
take a look and sign up for one of our seminars.
2010
RHC Update Fall Seminar Brochure Page 1.pdf
2010 RHC Update Brochure
Page 2.pdf
Please note that the Reno Billing
101 Seminar is on October 19th, 2010 instead of October 12th as indicated on the
Postcard that was mailed last week. Sorry about the error on the date that we
missed.
August
15, 2010: Here is a link to the most recent CMS Provider Update which is a 5
page listing of regulations issued or pending:
https://www.cms.gov/quarterlyproviderupdates/downloads/Regs-3Q10QPU.pdf
August
13, 2010
Here is a
link to a Excel spreadsheet that will help with Coding:
http://www.physicianspractice.com/e-m/content/article/1462168/1633136
Here is a
link to the Regional Extension Centers for Electronic Health Records Incentive
Payments:
http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1495&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=11&mode=2&in_hi_userid=10741&cached=true
Here is a link to the “Frequently
Asked Questions” section on the CMS website:
August 12th RHC Technical Assistance call regarding EHR Incentive
Payments
Just a
quick note that there is a Teleconference tomorrow at 2:00 PM (Eastern) on
Electronic Health Records Stimulus payments. Here is the notice from the
National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) and the meeting is
sponsored by HRSA.. If you want to see the Powerpoint slides for the meeting
follow this link:
2010 EHR_Meaningful_Use Presentation by NARHC for August 13 2010
Teleconference.ppt
Website Changes
July 24, 2010: Here is a link to our
latest newsletter with lots of PECOS, EHR Incentive Stimulus payment, and health
reform information in it.
2010
HBS Update Newsletter Dated July 24 2010.pdf
July 24, 2010: You will notice big changes
to our website today. I have filed all the information that was previously on
the home page and resulted in one long scroll of unrelated information. All the
information has been categorized by subject and can be located on it's
corresponding page. I have included a blog page that is where I will continue to
provide updates. The home page will also include the most recent posts; however,
the information will be quickly filed to their appropriate page. I hope this
makes the site more useful to you and easier to find content that is of interest
to you. If you have problems with tool bars on the side that help you navigate
to the proper content, here are the hyperlinks to get you there.
Additionally, we have started a new
website called
www.healthcarebusinessspecialists.com and we have a new email address which
is
marklynn@healthcarebusinessspecialists.com. (we will still use
la_vita_nouva@hotmail.com for
personal purposes so you may continue to use it if you prefer.
Links to Information on Rural Health
Clinic.com
|
Date |
Location |
Subject |
Time |
|
Thursday, Sept. 16 |
Nashville, TN |
RHC Update |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Friday, September
17 |
Knoxville, TN |
RHC Update |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Friday, October 8 |
Birmingham, AL |
RHC Update |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Thursday, Sept. 30 |
Kansas City, MO |
RHC Billing |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Tuesday, October
19 |
Reno, NV |
RHC Billing |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Friday, November
12 |
Sacramento, CA |
RHC Update |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Friday, November
19 |
Dallas, TX |
RHC Update |
9:30 to 4:00 |
|
Friday, December
10 |
Orlando,
FL |
RHC Update |
9:30 to 4:00 |
-

|