Healthcare Business Management Association - HBMA
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March - April 2013 •
Volume 18, Issue 2
Happy 20th Anniversary!
Message from the President
By Jud Neal, CHBME
As we prepare to gather in Orlando's Disney World to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our association, I have begun to think about two very positive themes. One is the joy of anniversary celebrations and the other is how easy it is to get caught up in the magic of dreams that come to life at Disney and the surrounding attractions. Click for more

SPOTLIGHT ON! The Education Committee
Committee Profile
By Joe Schendel, CHBME, Chairman
Conference planning is an interesting and challenging process to complete. For example, planning for the 20th Anniversary Spring Educational Conference in Orlando (April 2013) began during the summer of 2011. Identifying and securing the host hotel must begin that early to ensure that we get the dates needed to avoid other related association meetings, religious holidays, and the like. Click for more

SOUND OFF!
Topic:Tell Us How HBMA Has Benefited You!
By Billing Editors
HBMA Members sound off on current industry topics... Click for more

It's Celebration Time!
HBMA 20th Anniversary Retrospective
By Madelon Berger, CHBME, Editor
Congratulations to HBMA on celebrating 20 years! As with any fledgling business, HBMA had many bumps in the road through the early years. This was compounded by other factors that you will read about. We are fortunate that our past presidents contributed to this issue by writing about their experiences. Thank you to past President Bing Herald who wrote on behalf of the late past President Tim Maher. Click for more

HBMA Awards
A Look at Accolades for HBMA Members
By Billing Editors
Every year, HBMA recognizes members for their contributions to the association. Members who demonstrate continuing dedication to the purposes and goals of the association are selected by the Awards Committee. Click for more

HBMA 2013 Spring Educational Conference
Program Highlights
Contributed by Conference Speakers
Professional speakers will address key issues such as ACOs, ICD-10, portable information technologies and HIPAA breaches, RACs, management strategies,growing your business, CMS initiatives, Washington updates, and much more. Get a sneak preview from five of our speakers. Click for more

Can't We Just Hover and Let Boston Come to Us?
If We Resist Change In Our Business Models, We Will Crash
By Phil Ellis
I was waiting to board a flight once, and after an announcement was made that our departure would be delayed due to fog in Boston, I heard a young girl say to her mom, "Since the earth rotates, can't we just take off and hover and let Boston come to us?" Her embarrassed mother looked at me as if the kid had just blurted out a four-letter bomb, so I said, "Lady, I think that makes perfectly good sense." Click for more

Playing Poker with Uncle Sam
How to Win with Tax Planning
By Kathy Dean-Bradley, CPA
I was invited to a friendly game of Texas Hold'em poker by some friends. I didn't know much about poker, but I am friendly and I figured I could add value to the group with my fast math skills to help count chips. Plus, my husband had just been captivated by the World Series of Poker tournament on TV, where the winner took home over $8.5 million. Now, that kind of prize is something to get your attention! Click for more

Know Who You are Working With
Encourage Your Health Plans, Preferred Provider Networks (PPNs), and Third Party Administrators to Get and Use Their Organizations' New, Free "Health Plan Or Other Entity" Identifier!
Published with permission of the American Medical Association (AMA)
The American Medical Association (AMA) was instrumental in the push to adopt a Health Plan Identifier (HPID) for each payor and entity involved in the healthcare billing and payment process, so that billing companies and physician practices will know who they are actually working with. Click for more

Performance Review Hooey
Look at Alternatives to Enhance Employee Performance
By Kevin Herring
It's that time again when organizations are bustling with performance grading, self-reviews, rank ordering, goal setting, final performance evaluations, and merit pay raises, all in the name of managing performance. The amount of activity and anxiety the performance review process produces create stress for everyone involved. So what is all the fuss about? Click for more

5 Best Practices for Busy Billing Services to Collect More Patient Payments
Increase Efficiencies and Save Money
By Bill Marvin
Every billing service is interested in improving its business and collecting more for its clients. However, implementing technology and process changes often seem like a major project that the typical billing service is too busy to undertake. Click for more

How to Choose a Collection Agency
Learn the Tricks of the Trade
By Ian Shafran
Choosing a collection agency for a billing company can be a difficult decision. You may be asking yourself several questions, such as, "What is the right fee structure?," "What type of reports will my clients have access to?," and, "How will my practices' patients be treated?" Click for more

Retaining Independence While Embracing Accountability
Care Coordination and Integration Strategies for Small Physician Practices (Part 3)
Published with permission of the American Medical Association (AMA)
Physicians throughout the country are trying to figure out how to best achieve their professional goals in the changing healthcare delivery environment. Physician payments are increasingly being structured in a way that incentivizes quality and cost effectiveness over volume, and this may place physicians at financial risk. Click for more

E/M Services Under the Gun
Coding Corner
By Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS, RCC, PCS, CPC, CPC-H
In the January-February Billing magazine we discussed coding models that billing companies utilize to serve their clients. There is always a fine line between providing services and helping to protect a client. In today's environment I would argue that is it critical that third party billing companies provide more than just transactional services. You must seek to truly partner with your clients or risk losing them to another company that will. Click for more

Your Compliance Plan is Finalized… Now What?
Compliance Issues
By Cindy Pittmon, CHBME
Staff training is one vitally important component of any effective compliance plan. Beyond conveying the needed information, effective compliance training should communicate management's commitment to the letter and spirit of the law. Click for more

Conditional Formatting, Part 3
Software
By Nate Moore, CPA, MBA, CMPE
After reading the articles in the last two issues of Billing, you have learned a lot about how to use conditional formatting to make your spreadsheets more powerful. In this issue, we'll add color scales to make conditional formatting even more useful. Click for more

Clinical Content Issues for the Third Party Biller
EHR Issues
By Ron Sterling
Clinical content can make or break the EHR experience of your physician clients. Clinical content refers to the various checklists, documents, and forms that address an area of medicine when using an EHR. For example, a pediatric practice would be interested in documentation tools for a newborn visit and age-appropriate well-child visits. An orthopedic practice would need site-by-site tools to document injuries and treatment. Click for more

Ten Questions that Will Shape Your Future
From the Road
By Dave Jakielo, CHBME
In today's world, you must be cognizant of and constantly monitor the multitude of changes that are looming on the horizon in order to effectively develop and revise your strategic plan. Just following your day to day routine without preparing for the future is a fatal mistake. Click for more

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