calling the Healthcare Business Conference. This conference will be a national event and will be designed to cover topics that require details in the presentations: coding, IT, compliance, sales, general aR issues, complex regulatory issues, payor issues, business work flow matters, and the like. This event will include multiple breakout sessions because of the quantity of topics and the wider variety of attendees. This event will also be connected to the executive symposium to some extent, in that the attendees of the first event will go back to their companies, revise or update their business plans, and then return to (or send their operational staff to) the Healthcare Business Conference to obtain the details on specifics. either way, attendees at this event will know when they register that this will be an operationally-based event loaded with specifics. Madelon: so will these events replace the traditional spring and Fall educational Conferences? Phil: In a word, yes. One cannot read those evaluations and listen to the comments of attendees and not summarize that our educational programming was not seen as very effective. We have used the same model for 20 years, and just as the complexities of our member profiles have evolved, we must change how we deliver effective material to that more diverse audience. COMMITTEE NeWs THe JOuRNaL OF THe HeaLTHCaRe BILLINg aND maNagemeNT assOCIaTION 15 Madelon: What other new concepts will there be? Phil: In past years, we offered a series of webinars that had a high number of participants. unfortunately, there were some tactical changes made in 2011 that did not work out as planned and the webinars had very low participation, poor ratings, and – basically – failed miserably. One of our team members, Roxanne smith-Kovac, has agreed to lead the change effort on our webinars to bring them back bigger and better than ever. There are so many things happening in healthcare now that we cannot wait until the next national event to get the word out, so we will have frequent webinars that include evolving new issues as well as updates on topics presented at national conferences. Madelon: How does the education Committee stay informed on the wide variety of issues that you have to consider for inclusion in conference agendas? Phil: I am very glad you asked that question, madelon, because last year we failed at this, and as Committee Chair, I take personal responsibility for that. It is my responsibility to ensure that there is a clear line of communication between the education Committee and the other committee chairs about what is most relevant in their areas and what topics we need to include in our educational programming. That did not happen last year. I recently asked one of our newer committee members, michelle Durner, to serve as our committee liaison. she will be taking the lead as our point person with each committee to ensure we know what their critical issues are and that we include those topics into our programming. Madelon: How will the new model of education assist members in earning and maintaining their CHBme status? Phil: That question hits a nerve, and we knew it would. unfortunately, we have had several CHBme members who struggled to maintain their certifications because they were not able to attend all of the necessary functions. I learned early on in my tenure as chair that this is a much more complicated issue than I initially thought. susan Chandler, the chair of the Certification Committee, does a wonderful job of maintaining the program, and she and her committee want to make sure that the CHBme certification has meaning. That includes attendance at some on-site events, which we all feel is critical to obtaining the education necessary to be a fully qualified member. However, we want to make sure that while we keep the criteria of knowledge on a high level to ensure credibility, we also recognize that we must do everything possible to make the material available to our members. That means offering the required courses at the appropriate venues, as frequently as possible, to make sure we do not lose certified members due to logistical and scheduling matters. I have asked susan (who is also the vice-chair of the education Committee) to look at our new programming and determine how we might increase the on-site offerings to make sure that an abundance of opportunity is available for on-site credits. If we lose certified members because they do not grasp the material, that is another matter, but we have to make the courses readily available. Madelon: What about our Owners & managers, Compliance, and Hot Topics events? are they going to be in the new education programming? Phil: Yes; the topics presented in those events have been and will always be critical factors to our members. We have two O&m conferences already on the schedule for 2014 as well as our annual Compliance Conference. However, many of the topics presented in these conferences will be included
Billing_JanFeb14
To see the actual publication please follow the link above