ICD-10 One Year Away: Are you Ready?
With ICD-10 officially one year away, a few questions should be on your mind. Have you started researching the most commonly used CPT codes? Do you have a training plan in place for your staff? Will your health IT vendor’s software be updated to ICD-10 standards?
Health Insurance Exchanges Set to Launch October 1st
Health insurance exchanges go into effect in the United States on October 1st. These marketplaces, a major part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), aim to provide increased access to affordable private insurance to uninsured Americans. Under the ACA, insurance companies will no longer have the ability to deny medical coverage to Americans with […]
Does the Cloud Keep Health IT Costs Grounded?
As the industry’s adoption rate of health IT solutions continues to skyrocket, so do costs. According to recent data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), medical practices’ annual expenditures per full-time physician on IT costs have climbed from $15,211 in 2008 to $19,439 in 2012, an increase of 27.8%. But health IT doesn’t have […]
Weekly Checkup: September 23-27
They say money makes the world go round, but that’s not all that accurate. It actually has more to do with the original formation of our solar system and something called conservation of angular momentum. Literalness aside, money is still very important to running a practice, and factors like improper EHR usage, HIPAA penalties and claims […]
Hospital Facility Fees: How Much Is Too Much?
In a major policy shift, federal regulators are seeking tighter restrictions for the facility fees hospitals charge Medicare for emergency room visits. This policy is controversial, with some lawmakers saying encourage upcharges, and facility fees are expected to stabilize at one flat rate moving forward. As it stands, when a physician provides a service to […]
Getting Up To Speed with the HIPAA Omnibus Rule
Although it was announced in January, the HIPAA Omnibus Rule finally went into effect this past Monday. The rule is meant to strengthen privacy and security protections for health information established under HIPAA in 1996. “Much has changed in health care since HIPAA was enacted over 15 years ago,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in […]
Does Meaningful Use Stage 2 Also Result in Patient Engagement Limitations?
It’s clear that Stage 2 Meaningful Use is set to transform patient engagement, but will it limit the way physicians interact with their patients? While Stage 2 rules intend to emphasize the physician-patient relationship, some insist the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) could do a little more. An online petition on Change.org, for instance, […]
Meaningful Use-Ready EHRs Save Time for Physicians
Physicians who use EHR systems that meet meaningful use criteria are reporting significant timesaving benefits, according to a report published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Specifically, surveyed physicians reported increased efficiencies in the areas of sending prescriptions and receiving lab results, as well as less time […]
3 EHR Habits That Could Be Hurting Your Practice
IT issues, staff training, and Meaningful Use attestation are some of the most common difficulties physicians face when adopting EHRs. But there are several less talked about issues that may be negatively impacting your practice. Today, we identify these often-surprising problems and provide advice on how to address them. Not Checking Pre-Populated Fields A recent […]
Overcome Common Claim Denials With a Top-Shelf Practice Management System
In an article published last year, we cited illegibility, lack of specificity, missing information, timely filing and varying payer standards as the five most common mistakes causing medical claim denials. These prevalent errors combine to crimp the pocketbooks of physicians everywhere. Fortunately, adopting a quality practice management system will eliminate each of these errors from […]