Healthcare Business Management Association - HBMA
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May - June 2016 •
Volume 21, Issue 3
HBMA: The Changes Are Happening
President's Message
By Holly Louie, RN, CHBME
At HBMA, we manage change – just as most of you do every day. I'm learning that change is an interesting beast. It is threatening to some, no matter how small. It is exciting to others, no matter how big. Click for more

SOUND OFF!
HBMA Members Sound Off on Hot Topics
By Billing Editors
What Is the Biggest Disaster Your Company Has Faced and How Did You Manage It? Click for more

Want Value? Think MVP
HBMA News
By Ginger Ryder
Like a lot of you, I often find the details of the work I do confusing and difficult to keep up with. We work in an industry that is always changing and yet every detail matters. It's one of the reasons why I value my membership with HBMA so highly. Click for more

When Disaster Strikes
Billing Companies Can, and Should, Prepare for the Worst
By Brittany Manning
Disasters. The nature of them alone – unexpected, unpredictable, and often unavoidable – make them any business's nightmare. And while we'd all like to think a disaster will never happen to us, industry experts say for many billing companies, it's a matter of when, not if. Click for more

The False Claims Act
What Billing Companies need to Know
By Joe Rivet
The False Claims Act (FCA), also known as the Lincoln Law, was enacted in 1863 during the Civil War. The Act is a federal law that imposes liability on a person or company who defrauds the government. The FCA is the government's weapon in combating fraud and abuse in healthcare. Click for more

Rethink Denials: Your AR Will Thank You
Start by Taking a Step Back
By Paul Bernard
Despite the many complexities that come with managing a medical billing cycle, there is one simple and incontrovertible truth – 100 percent of claims end up in accounts receivable (AR) 100 percent of the time, clean or denied. Click for more

Build a Denials Action Plan with Comparative Analytics
Get the Right Data to Find the Root Cause
By Amber Civitarese and Stacie Bon
It's a common problem seen in practices nationwide: the billing department sees an uptick in denials. The billing manager expresses concern to the clinic manager, who provides what he or she feels is the root cause for these denials. Click for more

The Unique Device Identifier's Role in Protecting Patients
There's a Way to Reduce Medical Device Failures
By the American Medical Association
In recent years, high-profile medical device failures have garnered significant media attention. The delays in recognizing safety issues with metal-on-metal hip replacements, cardioverter defibrillator leads, and other implantable devices highlight systemic shortcomings in how the safety of these products is monitored following market approval. Click for more

Dear Doctor, We Don't Care If You Don't Get Paid Promptly
Feature Story
By Holly Louie, RN, CHBME
The story that I am going to relay could borrow a line from the movie When Harry Met Sally. Sally is sobbing and says she is going to be 40. When Harry asks when, Sally responds, "Someday!" And that is our punch line to this story. Click for more

3 Opportunities to Ensure Payment Security
New Payment Methods Bring Increased Risk
By Jeff Lin
Offering multiple ways to pay is a proven strategy for billing services to help provider clients engage patients in the payment process and help improve patient collections. As payment responsibility increases, patients bring expectations from their consumer experiences and demand new ways to pay their healthcare bills. Click for more

Behavior Change Interventions
Coding Corner
By Jackie Miller, RHIA, CCS-P, CPC
Codes for "Behavior Change Interventions, Individual" were added to the CPT code set in 2008. There are two codes for smoking cessation counseling (99406-99407) and two for substance abuse structured screening and brief intervention (99408-99409)... Click for more

Excel 2013 Charting Tips: Part Two
Software
By Nate Moore, CPA, MBA, CMPE
This article builds on the foundation of the January/February 2016 and March/April 2016 Billing articles introducing Excel 2013 chart tools. In parts one and two we discussed the new icon tools next to Excel 2013 charts that provide tools closer to the chart instead of on the Ribbon. Click for more

Today's Challenges and What to Do About Them: Part One
From the Road
By Dave Jakielo, CHBME
I've been in the medical billing field for many years, and change has always been inevitable. It seems each year we are faced with new challenges from regulators, payors, providers, or competitors. Click for more

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