News

Harris Data Integrity Solutions Launches Rapid MPI Cleanup Tool for Fast, Accurate Eradication of Duplicate Patient Records

Posted in Press Releases on Tuesday, March 05, 2024.

Intelligent MPI Triage Solution is a fast, affordable, and secure way to alleviate duplicate record backlogs, easing the burden on HIM resources and protecting patient data integrity

Niagara Falls, N.Y. – March 5, 2024 – Harris Data Integrity Solutions, the leading provider of best-in-class patient data integrity services and software, has responded to growing demand for faster and more affordable duplicate record cleanup with the launch of its latest innovation, Intelligent MPI Triage Solution. Leveraging the efficiency of AI-driven logic paired with 20 years of data integrity expertise, Intelligent MPI Triage delivers precise and swift duplicate resolution to lower duplicate rates by easing backlogs created by higher patient volumes and fewer health information management (HIM) resources.

“A perfect storm of razor-thin operating margins, double-digit labor cost increases, and widening staffing gaps have HIM leaders scrambling to find ways to maintain the integrity of their patient data. Our clients reached out for help, and we responded with Intelligent MPI Triage Solution,” says Lora Hefton, Executive Vice President of Harris Data Integrity Solutions. “With it, Harris Data Integrity Solutions can partner with HIM teams and leverage our unique AI-powered ‘assess, treat, and refer’ process to quickly reduce potential duplicate queues, protecting patient records for a fraction of the cost.”

2024 Ushers in New Regulations for Billing Split/Shared Services

Posted in Client News Coverage on Monday, March 04, 2024.

January introduced new split/shared services documentation and billing challenges for Medicare providers in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The new regulations, rolled out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule, took effect on January 1, 2024, and finalized CMS’s definition of the “substantive portion” of a split/shared visit (first introduced in 2022).

That definition – more than half of the total time spent by the physician or nonphysician practitioner performing the split or shared evaluation and management (E/M) services or a substantive part of the medical decision-making (MDM) – is crucial in 2024 for determining who will bill Medicare for such visits. It was developed in response to public comments asking CMS to allow either time or MDM to serve as the substantive portion of a split or shared visit.

HealthIT Answers»

Adapting To CMS-HCC Model V28

Posted in Client News Coverage on Monday, March 04, 2024.

For the first time in a decade, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has overhauled its hierarchical condition categories (HCC), upgrading the underlying methodology to align with ICD-10-CM – which the rest of the healthcare system has been using since 2015. As a result, HCC version 28 requires greater specificity in documentation and code assignment to ensure accurate risk adjustment.

Healthcare Business Today»

The RCM Maturity Framework, Part Three: The Four Stages of Maturity

Posted in Client News Coverage on Monday, March 04, 2024.

Matt Bridge continues his three-part series on how to achieve a high-performing revenue cycle for your facility. Bridge reports that you need an understanding as to where your organization falls on the RCM Maturity Framework. Here is Part Three in this exclusive series for ICD10monitor.

The journey toward fully mature revenue cycle management (RCM) is typically a five-step process that starts with evaluating the maturity of the current state of operations to determine where the organization falls on the RCM Maturity Framework, outlined in the first two articles of this three-part series. This is followed by the establishment of a realistic long-term maturity target, followed by the development of iterative annual goals to achieve it.

RAC Monitor»

The RCM Maturity Framework, Part Two: The Four Stages of Maturity

Posted in Client News Coverage on Thursday, February 22, 2024.

Matt Bridge continues his three-part series on how to achieve a high-performing revenue cycle for your facility. Bridge reports that you need an understanding as to where your organization falls on the RCM Maturity Framework. Here is Part Two in this exclusive series for ICD10monitor.

The RCM Maturity Framework, introduced in the first edition of this three-part series, is a powerful diagnostic tool in the quest to optimize and digitally transform revenue cycle performance. It serves as the basis for a practical approach to transforming revenue cycle management (RCM) to help future-proof operations through a hybrid model of in-house management, global services, advanced technologies, and actionable analytics.

Four stages make up the Maturity Framework: Emerging, Foundational, Advanced, and High-Performing. Where an organization falls within those stages is determined by its level of maturity across three pillars: service delivery, technology and interoperability, and analytics.

ICD10 Monitor»

AGS Health Taps Conrad Coopersmith to Lead Coding Automation

Posted in Press Releases on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 21, 2024 – AGS Health, a leading provider of tech-enabled revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions and a strategic growth partner to healthcare providers across the U.S., announced today the appointment of Conrad Coopersmith to General Manager-Coding Automation. In this role, Coopersmith will focus on the creation and delivery of highly strategic automation solutions and services to meet AGS Health customers’ evolving coding needs.

“Conrad’s proven ability to optimize team performance and achieve organizational goals and objectives make him a valuable addition to the AGS Health leadership team,” said Patrice Wolfe, CEO of AGS Health. “Coding automation is a priority for healthcare organizations that are fighting to regain their post-COVID financial footing amid chronic staffing shortages, heighted scrutiny, and evolving coding and billing regulations. We look forward to the impact Conrad will have on AGS Health’s ability to meet our customers’ technology needs while exceeding their service expectations.”

Accredited Medical Coding and Billing Online Schools

on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

The healthcare industry relies on trained individuals who are familiar with the coding systems used for insurance reimbursement. Additionally, the use of electronic health records (EHRs) is now becoming the norm. And these new standards require coding professionals who can maintain the medical data within those records.

If you’re interested in pursuing a career in medical billing and coding, you’ll need some training. One of the best ways to obtain it is with an online program. Online medical coding and billing programs present an excellent opportunity to build a lucrative and rewarding career. They are highly flexible, allowing you to go at your own pace. They allow you to schedule your studies around your busy schedule. And if you need to work while you attend medical billing and coding school, many colleges offer part-time options.

Online College Plan»

Knowing the Score: MIPS

Posted in Client News Coverage on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Medicare’s legacy quality reporting programs were consolidated and streamlined into the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, known as “MIPS.”

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) uses a composite performance score to determine if eligible physicians will receive a payment bonus, a payment penalty, or no payment adjustments.

If a physician bills more than $90,000 for Part B-covered professional services and they see more than 200 Part B patients, and has provided more than 200 covered professional services to those patients, the physician must participate in the MIPS program. It’s essential for all eligible clinicians to report in order to prevent a 9-percent downward adjustment for all Medicare Part B claims paid two years from the reporting year.

RAC Monitor»

The RCM Maturity Framework, Part One: A Four-Stage Journey to Digitally Transforming the Revenue Cycle

Posted in Client News Coverage on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Matt Bridge begins a three-part series on how to achieve a high-performing revenue cycle for your facility. Bridge reports that you need an understanding as to where your organization falls on the RCM Maturity Framework. Here is Part One in this exclusive series for ICD10monitor.

Though healthcare organizations were expecting 2023 to end on a modestly high note, with many telling Kaufman Hallthat they expected to finally hit the 3 to 4-percent operating margins needed to help ensure long-term sustainability, the pressure is nonetheless on to hasten their rebound from 2022 margins that were 39 percent lower than 2021.

In response, finance leaders are seeking ways to accelerate cash flow, reduce expenses, and increase profitability, with many turning to global resources and technology to transform their revenue cycle management (RCM) operations.

ICD10 Monitor»

EHR Vendor Epic Wins 2024 Best in KLAS Overall Software Suite

Posted in Client News Coverage on Wednesday, February 07, 2024.

February 07, 2024 - The 2024 Best in KLAS Software & Services report has recognized EHR vendor Epic as the top overall software suite, marking the fourteenth consecutive year that the company has earned the award.

The 2024 Best in KLAS report leverages information obtained from more than 26,000 evaluations representing the opinions of healthcare professionals from over 5,000 healthcare organizations.

EHR Intelligence»

Optimizing HCC Coding for Accurate Reimbursement

Posted in Client News Coverage on Monday, February 05, 2024.

Used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and commercial payors to forecast medical costs for patients with more complex healthcare needs, the HCC risk adjustment model measures relative risk due to health status to determine reimbursement levels. The more complex the patient's medical needs, the higher the provider's payment.

HCCs are now the preferred method of risk adjustment for the Medicare population which, according to figures from CMS, includes nearly 60 million people on both Part A and Part B, approximately 30.2 million of whom are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan. Thus, doing it correctly is crucial to Medicare providers and payors who wish to be appropriately reimbursed for the care provided to patients and beneficiaries.

BC Advantage»

Would you store your medical history on a QR code? Here's how.

Posted in Client News Coverage on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.

What would happen if you had a medical emergency? Would the emergency room doctors know what medications you are taking? Would they know about your allergies? Would they know about your pre-existing conditions that might skew your blood work? Would they know who your emergency contact is? And would that emergency contact know all your important medical information to give to the emergency department staff?

Those questions kept Austinite Jennifer Devening looking for easy answers.

Austin American-Statesman»

2023 Benchmark Report: Healthy Bottom Lines are Reliant on Cross-Functional Team Collaboration, Technology, & AI Investments

Posted in Client News Coverage on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.

Safeguarding revenues in the coming year requires healthcare systems to proactively navigate an evolving landscape with cross-functional collaboration, technological innovation, and increased AI investments. Additionally, going into 2024 operational excellence is the table stakes for healthcare organizations to improve bottom lines, and where AI and automation can provide a boost in productivity and costs.

Those are the high-level findings of MDaudit’s 2023 Benchmark Report on the trends, challenges, and opportunities encountered by U.S. healthcare organizations, which analyzes auditing, charge analysis, and denial assessment data from MDaudit’s network of more than 650,000 providers and 2,200 facilities. Insights are also from auditing professional and hospital claims totaling more than $5 billion and denials from commercial and government payors exceeding $150 billion.

Healthcare IT Today»

The Reality of Autonomous Coding

Posted in Client News Coverage on Tuesday, January 16, 2024.

Autonomous coding is an AI-driven leap forward from traditional Computer-Assisted Coding (CAC) systems, promising transformation for labor-intensive and error-prone coding processes in healthcare, with substantial benefits in terms of cost savings, efficiency, and reduced denials. However, to optimize its value and protect investments in coding solutions, healthcare organizations must understand the realities and limitations of this evolving technology.

HealthIT Answers»

More Stakeholders Weigh in on Information-Blocking Disincentives

Posted in Client News Coverage on Thursday, January 11, 2024.

Last week, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) suggested that federal regulators use corrective action plans and education to remedy information-blocking allegations instead of significant financial penalties. Now other stakeholders, including the EHR Association and Civitas Networks for Health, have weighed in with their concerns and suggestions for improving the final rule. 

Information blocking is when a provider knowingly and unreasonably interferes with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information except as required by law or covered by a regulatory exception.

Healthcare Innovation»