“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”—Gandhi Resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.” And if ever there was a profession facing “difficulties” it is physicians. The “recover quickly” part is no slim accomplishment either. Wayne Sotile, PhD, “one the world’s most seasoned clinicians specializing in life coaching for physicians,” says that today’s healthcare system faces unrelenting change and the mismanagement of that change along with the fatigue it brings is causing an epidemic of costly burnout for health professionals. Sounds pretty bad. But the medical profession must do much more than just endure. It must flourish. Doctors have a great trust. When it comes to the dealing with the stress of today’s medical profession—adapting, coping, adjusting, and managing—some doctors are better at it than others. My physician-dad was a fine model for resilience. He knew how to- CMS Extends the MIPS 2017 Data Submission Deadline from March 31 to April 3 at 8 PM EDT If you’re an eligible clinician participating in the Quality Payment Program, you now have until Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 8 PM EDT to submit your 2017 MIPS performance data. You can submit your 2017 performance data using the new feature on the Quality Payment Program website. Note: For groups that missed the March 16 CMS Web Interface data submission deadline, it’s not too late to submit your data through another mechanism. How to Get Started Go to qpp.cms.gov and click on “sign in” on the top right side of the web page. You’ll be required to log into the Quality Payment Program data submission feature using your Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) credentials user name and password. If you don’t have an EIDM account, you’ll need to obtain one. Review this EIDM
- We are rounding the ICD-10 corner with 14 days left until this “historic undertaking” envelops the healthcare industry with the change over to the ICD-10 code set. Are anxiety levels high, are medical offices and billing services encountering head scratching moments of coding confusion, are providers taking out additional lines of credit? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions seem to be a resounding ‘YES’. I certainly don’t want to age myself however I can still vividly remember all of the uncertainty regarding Y2K (life as we knew it would change; computer programs were forecasted to crash, availability of electricity could be compromised, and grocery stores shelves were emptied in preparation for this technological disaster.) More specifically in the healthcare industry, there were also those moments in time when NPI numbers were front and center, along with the shift to 5010. From my operational viewpoint, there is a recurring theme with
- Improved Coding Down-coding and poor charge capture can both be improved through an EHR’s E&M Coder. A study by Medical Economics Magazine estimated that a physician who is regularly down-coding may be losing $40,000 to $50,000 annually. A study done by Partners Healthcare System found an increase of 1.5% to 5% in overall billing simply through improved charge capture. Total Potential Savings: For our example we will use a conservative improvement rate of 2.5% to factor in a reduction in down-coding errors resulting in an increase in income of approximately $25,000 per year! Transcription By utilizing voice recognition capabilities that come stock in our EHRs, this can be a savings of $1,000 per month for using a transcription service at the industry standard. Total Potential Savings: Total potential yearly savings are approximately $12,000 per year! Chart Management Chart Management costs can be reduced through lower chart creation costs, lower chart
- Please click here to view the full CMS 2012 – 2014 H.I.T. Timeline
- 2014 CQM Electronic Reporting Guides for Eligible Professionals and Eligible Hospitals Are you an eligible professional or eligible hospital participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program? If so, CMS has posted new two materials to help you report clinical quality measures (CQMs) in 2014, including: An Introduction to EHR Incentive Programs for Eligible Professionals: 2014 Clinical Quality Measure Electronic Reporting Guide An Introduction to EHR Incentive Programs for Eligible Hospitals: 2014 Clinical Quality Measure Electronic Reporting Guide The guides are interactive. Users can click on the chapters of the Table of Contents for CQM information relevant to their needs, including: CQM Overview Information Changes to CQMs in 2014 List of 2014 CQMs Submitting CQM Data for the 2014 Reporting Year Resources Reporting CQMs for 2014 As explained in Chapter 2, beginning in 2014, the number of CQMs you report differs from previous years: Eligible professionals must select and report 9
- The Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule: United States, 2016 has been released by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. For 2016’s schedule, the ACIP made the following specific changes from 2015’s recommendations: Interval change for 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) followed by 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) from “6 to 12 months” to “at least 1 year” for immunocompetent adults aged ≥65 years. Adults aged ≥19 years with anatomical or functional asplenia, cerebrospinal fluid leak, or cochlear implant or who are immunocompromised should receive PPSV23 at least 8 weeks after PCV13. Serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccine series should be administered to persons aged ≥10 years who are at increased risk for serogroup B meningococcal disease. Those at increased risk include persons with anatomical or functional asplenia or persistent complement component deficiencies, microbiologists who are routinely exposed to isolates of Neisseria meningitidis, and persons identified
- The Version 5010 enforcement discretion period ends on June 30, 2012. The Version 5010 Enforcement Discretion Period ends this week, on June 30, 2012. All HIPAA-covered entities were required to upgrade to the new ASC X12 Version 5010 (Version 5010) and NCPDP Versions D.0 and 3.0 by January 1, 2012, however the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) initiated an enforcement discretion period to give the industry additional time to upgrade to the new transaction standards. As of July 1, 2012, all non-compliant entities will be subject to enforcement action under the existing HIPAA transaction and code set enforcement process. Entities still experiencing issues regarding use of the new electronic standards in their transactions should refer to their respective vendor, clearinghouse, payer’s website or provider service department for assistance. At this point, your Version 5010, D.0 or 3.0 implementation should be complete. However, if you have not yet finalized your
- The new year is here and brings with it many—often too many—resolutions for change. While change fatigue is common, when the desire for change comes from within your practice, the results can unify your team. If you’re planning to make changes in 2016, use these three tips from physicians to select the right change initiatives for your practice and keep your practice team on board throughout the process. How to decide on changes in your practice Change is always difficult, and identifying the right opportunities for improvements in your practice often can be the most critical part of the transformation process. For instance, you may want to iron speed bumps out of your work flow, or you may want each member of your practice team to be enabled to perform at the top of their skill set. Change becomes much easier to lead and facilitate when the change initiative addresses
- If you’re frustrated with your EMR/EHR software, you’ve probably invested in software that was created for a general medical practitioner’s office, not podiatry EMR software. This is a common problem, something that is hindering podiatrists across the country as they try to get in step with the recent changes in medical records/health records expectations. If you’ve recently invested in software, you may feel discouraged and wonder if it’s worth it to change to a new software package. Tailored podiatry EMR software is designed to meet the needs of a podiatrist’s office. Just as your staffing needs differ from that of a hospital, your podiatry software requirements are also very specific. Take it from Eric J Lullove, podiatrist and MediPro customer, who says in his testimonial: “I know the cost incursion is tough, but sometimes it’s worth it financially to be at peace with your ability to have an electronic office
- Many medical practices are looking for ways to increase payer reimbursement as they adjust to the new health care industry landscape. You may have noticed that some of the latest trends (2013, 2014) have increased the financial pressures experienced by medical practices. The number of Medicaid patients has increased, but processing the claims for these patients is time consuming and Medicaid is known for rejecting claims at a higher-than-average rate. Higher deductibles and co-pays have also made the burden of collection more challenging. The following are practical ways to increase payer reimbursements. Evaluate Your Situation You will need to assess your payer reimbursements, looking for problem areas. This requires access to data and analytics, which can be best provided by practice management software or an EMR/EHR system tailored to your practice. At the very least, start with a spreadsheet comparing your top 10 payers and your 25 most common current