Tuesday, March 4, 2014

New EHR Attestation Deadline for Eligible Professionals: March 31, 2014

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CMS is extending the deadline for eligible professionals to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program 2013 reporting year from 11:59 pm ET on February 28, 2014 to 11:59 pm ET March 31, 2014.

In addition, CMS is offering assistance to eligible hospitals who may have experienced difficulty attesting to submit their attestation retroactively and avoid the 2015 payment adjustment.

This extension will allow more time for providers to submit their meaningful use data and receive an incentive payment for the 2013 program year, as well as avoid the 2015 payment adjustment.

This extension does not impact the deadlines for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program or any other CMS program, including the electronic submission for the Physician Quality Reporting System EHR Incentive Program Pilot.

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How to attest?

If you are an eligible professional, you may use the registration and attestation system to submit your attestation for meaningful use for the 2013 reporting year. You must attest prior by 11:59 pm ET on March 31, 2014 to meet the new 2013 program deadline.

If you are an eligible hospital, you may contact CMS for assistance submitting your attestation retroactively. You must contact CMS by 11:59 pm on March 15, 2014 in order to participate for the 2013 program year.

Resources

If you are an eligible professional working on your attestation for the 2013 reporting period, there are resources available to help you with the registration and attestation process.
  • Stage 1 Meaningful Use Calculator
  • Registration and Attestation User Guides
  • EHR Incentive Program Website
The EHR Information Center is open to assist you with all of your registration and attestation system inquiries. Please call, 1-888-734-6433 (primary number) or 888-734-6563 (TTY number). The EHR Information Center is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Central Time), except federal holidays.

Tips

In addition, there are some simple steps you can take which will help to make the process easier for you:
  • Ensure that your payment assignment and other relevant information is up to date in the Medicare payment system PECOS
  • Make sure to include a valid email address in your EHR program registration
  • Consider logging on to use the attestation system during non-peak hours such as evenings and weekends
  • Log on to the registration and attestation system now and ensure that your information is up to date and begin entering your 2013 data
  • If you experience attestation problems, call the EHR Incentive Program Help Desk and report the problem
  • If your organization has more than 1,000 providers assigned to a proxy user, use the PECOS system to designate additional proxies to facilitate attestation.
Eligible Hospital Instructions:
  • CCN
  • Hospital Name
  • Contact Person Name
  • Contact Person Email
  • Contact Person Phone
Send the following information to EH2013Extension@Provider-Resources.com no later than 11:59 PM EST on 3/15/2014:

Type “EH 2013 EXTENSION” in the subject line of the email note

Each Hospital must be identified in a separate email

CMS will contact the person that you designate in your request to provide additional instructions regarding the Eligible Hospital 2013 attestation submission
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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Industry Transition to Make Certification A Norm For Biller & Coders!

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Even though currently billers and coders do not mandatory require obtaining certification, this is expected to change due to increased competition in the job market. Healthcare facilities are most likely to prefer hiring billing and coding specialists certified by recognized institutes such as American Health Information Management Association or the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Industry experts believe-
  • Growing competition, growth and industry changes are collectively making employers more cautious, hence gradually increasing the need for certified medical billers and coders
  • Certification is most likely to become the norm from as early as 2020
 
Moreover medical records and health information technician- jobs are expected to increase by 21% from 2010 to 2020, hence considered as one of the fastest-growing fields in health care.

Reasons for Industry growth and transition Effect on Billing and Coding
Senior citizen population
Advances in medical technology have made is possible for people to live longer, more active lives, additionally by 2020, one out of six Americans will be 65 years or older by 2020. Hence demand for quality healthcare will grow further with the increasing senior citizens population.
Need for highly skilled billers and coders will increase in hospitals and other health care facilities.
Higher need for certified coders to accurately and quickly code, plus submit and follow up claims from varied insurance payers, for increased patients.
Constant variations in health insurance
The Affordable Care Act is helping provide insurance to various people who didn’t have access to this earlier, leading to an increase in number of insured individuals. Also recent and upcoming changes to private and public insurance, is gradually increasing the need for billing specialists.
Requirement for skilled billers and coders who are updated with insurance norms.
Well informed billers and coders who will be able to correctly process increased claims, respond accurately to insurance queries and help prevent fraud and abusive practices.
Electronic Medical Records
More than 50% of physician offices and four out of five hospitals have converted from paper to electronic medical records, according to a report published by HHS recently in May 2013.
Increase in need of certified billers and coders who can properly –organize code and maintain the data required for digitization and easily handle issues related to of current information technology systems.
Remote Billing and Coding
High gas prices, parking and highway congestion, and expensive office space will eventually lead to increased transition from the office to online and an increase in billing specialist working remotely as independent contractors or employed by large, reputable employers.
These specialist will be required to handle the same tasks as on-site specialists, such as – evaluating patient records, coding, submission along with keeping updated with HIPAA standards and any industry changes. Hence employers would feel safer hiring certified billers and coders to ensure accuracy.
ICD-10 implementation
From October 2014, all health care providers will require switching to ICD-10 codes for their services and for hospital inpatient procedures.
Billers and coders will require to be updated with ICD-10 codes and most organizations will prefer hiring ICD-10 certified specialists anxious to avoid any revenue losses.
Specialists already certified in an ICD-9 coding can maintain their certification by enrolling in ICD-10 training program, either at their job or through an organization like the AHIMA.

In this scenario medicialbillersandcoders.com offers extensive opportunities to billers and coders to make use of this growing demand and industry changes by providing access to the best in the industry, serving healthcare for over a decade now. MBC the largest consortium of medical billers and coders; also provides a platform to their medical billing specialists who are well-versed with HIPAA, ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 –CM and serving varied specialties - to further excel in their domain.

Our constant industry updates, newsletters and job portal provides knowledge and huge prospects to medical billers and coders across all 50 US States. We also provide new avenues and updates for upcoming industry transitions like the ICD-10 transition updates through our ICD-10 training guide.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013

CMS delays HIPAA 5010 operation rules

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With big data beginning to come through the healthcare industry, not only does the protection of patient information and images become a pressing issue, but so does the process of submitting claims to health insurance companies for medical services, including treatments, doctors' appointments and diagnostic imaging. This is why the government is implementing new operating rules as part of the most updated version of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

HIPAA, which was signed into law in 1996, addresses the security and privacy of sensitive data through the use of data exchange using electronic health record and clinical archiving systems. HIPAA 5010 will enforce new operation rules authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for the sharing of information.

Although the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) originally planned to enforce the rules starting Jan. 1, the agency delayed the action until March 31. This decision was made based on comments they received from HIPAA-covered entities stressing that compliance may not be possible at that time.

The rules address the content of administrative transactions since HIPAA 5010 - implemented in July 2012 - which, as of now, only covers the formatting.

While the CMS is being lenient on the matter, this does not mean that any healthcare providers, health plans and clearinghouses should delay following the operation rules if they have the ability to. The additional 90 days is strictly to help out those who absolutely need the extra time.

Once the operation rules are fully implemented by the end of March, the White House administration estimates that healthcare providers and payers will save up to $9.5 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively, InformationWeek reported.
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Friday, January 18, 2013

Home Health Compare Poses Small Impact on Market Area Exit Decisions

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According to authors Jung and Feldman, the introduction of Home Health Compare, a public reporting program initiated by Medicare in 2003, had a very small and weak effect on selective exits by home health agencies between 2002 and 2004,. A 10-percent increase in reporting, the equivalent to reporting one more indicator per agency, increased the probability of a home health agency leaving an area with less-educated people by 0.3 percentage points, compared with leaving an area with high education. This small level of market-area exits under public reporting is unlikely to be practically meaningful, suggesting that Home Health Compare did not lead to a disruption in access to home health care through selective exits during the initial year of the program. Read the full paper, “Medication Days’ Supply, Adherence, Wastage, and Cost Among Chronic Patients in Medicaid,” published in Volume 2, Issue 4 of the Medicare & Medicaid Research Review.
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Countdown to Affordable Health Insurance

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January is the perfect month for looking forward to new and great things around the corner.

I’m feeling that way about the new Health Insurance Marketplace. Anticipation is building, and this month we start an important countdown, first to October 1, 2013, when open enrollment begins, and continuing on to January 1, 2014, the start of new health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. In October, many of you’ll be able to shop for health insurance that meets your needs at the new Marketplace at HealthCare.gov.
This is an historic time for those Americans who never had health insurance, who had to go without insurance after losing a job or becoming sick, or who had been turned down because of a pre-existing condition. Because of these new marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans will have new access to affordable health insurance coverage.

Over the last two years we’ve worked closely with states to begin building their health insurance marketplaces, also known as Exchanges, so that families and small-business owners will be able to get accurate information to make apples-to-apples comparisons of private insurance plans and, get financial help to make coverage more affordable if they’re eligible.

That is why we are so excited about launching the newly rebuilt HealthCare.gov website, where you’ll be able to buy insurance from qualified private health plans and check if you are eligible for financial assistance — all in one place, with a single application. Many individuals and families will be eligible for a new kind of tax credit to help lower their premium costs. If your state is running its own Marketplace, HealthCare.gov will make sure you get to the right place.

The Marketplace will offer much more than any health insurance website you’ve used before. Insurers will compete for your business on a level playing field, with no hidden costs or misleading fine print.

It’s not too soon to check out HealthCare.gov for new information about the Marketplace and tips for things you can do now to prepare for enrollment.  And, make sure to sign up for emails or text message updates, so you don’t miss a thing when it’s time to enroll.

There is still work to be done to make sure the insurance market works for families and small businesses. But, for millions of Americans, the time for having the affordable, quality health care coverage, security, and peace of mind they need and deserve is finally within sight.
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Mental Health Parity Guidance

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Today in connection with the President’s announcement regarding the national response to the Sandy Hook tragedy, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a State Health Official letter on the application of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to Medicaid managed care organizations, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and alternative benefit (benchmark) plans. 

The State Health Official letter is available online at http://www.medicaid.gov/Federal-Policy-Guidance/Federal-Policy-Guidance.html
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CMS NEWS

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Millions of Americans newly eligible for quality, affordable health coverage in 2014
Administration proposes guidance for Medicaid, health insurance marketplaces

Because of the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans will be newly eligible to receive quality, affordable health care through Medicaid and the new health insurance marketplaces (also known as the Exchanges) in 2014.  Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released a proposed rule that promotes consistent policies and processes for eligibility notices and appeals in Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Exchanges and give states more flexibility when operating their Medicaid programs. HHS encourages all Americans to review and submit comments on the proposed rule.

“Before the health care law was passed, millions of Americans were unable to obtain or afford quality health coverage,” Secretary Sebelius said. “Today, we are proposing a rule to provide Americans with access to affordable, high quality health coverage and give states more flexibility to implement the law in a way that works for them.”

Beginning in 2014, the health care law provides new opportunities for Medicaid coverage for adults who earn up to 133 percent of poverty -- $14,865 for an individual or $30,656 for a family of four.  Other Americans looking for coverage will be eligible to buy it through a health insurance marketplace, where many will be eligible for tax credits to make coverage more affordable.  The rules proposed today will help develop systems that will make it easy for consumers to determine if they are eligible for Medicaid or tax credits that make insurance more affordable. 

Today’s proposed rule includes information on how consumers will receive coordinated communications on eligibility determinations and can appeal eligibility determinations.  It gives states flexibility in designing benefits and determining cost sharing in the Medicaid program.  The proposed rule also provides flexibility to state-based Exchanges by allowing them to choose to rely on HHS for verifying whether an individual has employer-sponsored coverage and conducting some types of appeals.

For more information on this proposed rule, please visit: http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp.
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