HBMA's annual Revenue Cycle Management conference is back and celebrating our 30th year! Join HBMA's current leadership and past presidents for an event to remember!
August 11th-September 22th
Member: $899
Non Member: $1,049
Guest*: $599
Onsite Registration
Members: $1,149
Non Members: $1,299
Guest*: $799
*Guest registrations are for networking events and meals only. Guests are not permitted in educational sessions.
September 26th - Day 1
12:00pm-12:05pm: Education Welcome
12:05pm-1:05pm: Concurrent Sessions
- Executive Track: Too Busy for Sales and Marketing? Discover the Barriers and Scalability Options to Achieve Success Presented by Dave Jakielo & Sara Nofziger-Drew
In today’s challenging marketplace, a medical billing company is either Growing or Shrinking. The choice is up to you! With busy schedules, wearing many hats and never enough time, sales and marketing are often left at the bottom of your to do list or have even fallen off the page completely. Build your pipeline and open doors for growth by choosing the best options to scale and prioritize your efforts and dollars. Learn vital skills and techniques to increase your company’s revenue and grow your client base.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Identify the barriers that keep you from achieving Sales and Marketing Success
- Share what market opportunities exist today that will help with revenue growth
- Reveal and discuss the 6 Elements of Selling
- Discover how to develop a Top 10 Strategy
- Operational Track: More Effective Strategies for Solving Patient Billing and Collections Presented by Pete Heydt and Susan Bailie
This session is intended to educate financial and operational executives and revenue cycle leaders on how to positively impact financial results through concepts and tactics for more effective patient billing and payment experiences. Attendees will learn how to leverage planning, education and technology across the patient financial continuum to drive more payments, faster payments, and at a lower cost, while providing a better patient experience.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Evaluate the policies, tactics and results they currently experience for patient billing and payments against suggestions and examples from the presenters.
- Plan for how they can help their clients achieve better financial results, while also improving the staff and patient experiences with a more modern and efficient set of processes and solutions.
- Focus areas are as follows and participants are encouraged to understand their existing revenue cycle capabilities in each:
- Policies, procedures and education
- Communication capabilities including electronic and paper billing
- Dunning/ billing cycle workflows
- Payment capabilities for all types of patient payment, both self-service and staff created…across the entire financial continuum of the patient: pre-service, time-of-service and post-service
- Existing partners, both service-oriented and technology
- Expected results vs current results
1:05pm-2:05pm: Concurrent Sessions
- Executive Track: Offshore Outsourcing: What Could Go Wrong? How Can A Strong Compliance Plan Make It A True Asset? Presented by Kunal Jain
Offshore business process outsourcing is often touted as the 'golden ticket' to boosting the revenues of your healthcare enterprise. As an onshore medical billing company or a healthcare enterprise, you stand to gain a lot from partnering with an offshore medical business service. The use of HIPAA-compliant software and on-site processing protocols by an offshore medical billing service is standardized to minimize risks for the onshore client. You can use performance service level agreements to cover your operational risks. But behind this seemingly beneficial and seamless operational arrangement lurk risks that unfortunately come to light only once you have moved your processes to an offshore partner. For instance, the offshore medical billing service's human resource policies and on-site data security controls can have legal ramifications for you in the U.S.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Choose an offshore BPO company that’s right for your business based on the following criteria’s – experience, service guarantees, customer reviews, scope of services, IT infrastructure, compliance and overall cost.
- Understand the questions that should be asked before hiring a prospective offshore medical billing service.
- Know what are the on-ground issues you can expect when you partner with an offshore vendor and how to mitigate them?
- Create steps, expectations and protocols that need to be set in place before the relationship can flourish.
- Operational Track: Mastering Executive Productivity: Advanced Outlook Tips & Strategies for Leaders Presented by Brian Hicks
This course is designed to equip busy executives with the skills and insights they need to maximize their productivity and communication effectiveness. The course delves into advanced email management, streamlining inboxes using rules, templates, and Quick Steps, as well as efficient calendar management and collaboration with assistants. Additionally, attendees will learn how to integrate Microsoft Teams with Outlook for seamless communication and collaboration, explore the capabilities of Microsoft Copilot for AI-powered assistance, and discover essential add-ins and tools specifically tailored for leaders. With a focus on practical strategies and cutting-edge features, this course empowers leaders to harness the full potential of Outlook in their daily operations.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Enhance email and calendar management: Equip leaders with advanced techniques and strategies to streamline their email and calendar management, resulting in improved organization, efficiency, and time management
- Optimize communication and collaboration: Teach leaders how to leverage Microsoft Teams integration with Outlook and harness the power of AI through Microsoft Copilot, enabling more effective collaboration and communication within their organization
- Strengthen privacy and security measures: Educate leaders on essential privacy and security best practices, including email encryption, multi-factor authentication, and phishing prevention, to ensure the protection of sensitive information and data
2:05pm-2:20pm: Break
2:20pm-3:20pm: Concurrent Sessions
- Executive Track: Successful AI Integration for Healthcare Presented by Jessica Miller
Discuss AI and Machine learning and its uses and implications in a healthcare setting. Topics covered will include an overview of AI/Machine learning, types of software products available for the healthcare market, how to select the appropriate software, and what might be next in the integration of these fields into more healthcare settings, including the future of computer assisted coding.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Understand what is AI and Machine Learning: What is it? How does it work? How can you use it to improve efficiency and bottom line?
- Evaluate and Analyze Software options: Discuss Applicable Use and Available Products- What's out there for practice management? Other uses in other healthcare settings-surgical applications-robotic surgery, provision of health services. How do you choose?
- Foresee the future: What's Next?
- Operational Track: How effective is your Compliance Program? Presented by Michelle Anne Richards
This session will provide a foundation for proactively starting and implementing an effective Compliance Program. Risk management comprises the systems and processes employed to uncover, mitigate, and prevent risks in healthcare organizations. Understand its purpose, elements, management’s role, and more.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Learn the key elements needed to build a Compliance Program.
- Learn how to conduct a Risk Analysis
- Gain an understanding about how to effectively create and implement an Incident Management Plan as part of the Compliance Program
3:20pm-3:30pm: Break
3:30pm-4:30pm: General Session
Opportunities for Improving the Healthcare Claims Process with CAQH CORE Operating Rules Presented by Robert Bowman
In 2022, CAQH CORE published Attachments Operating Rules to drive adoption of electronic attachments during healthcare claims processes. By adopting electronic standards and the CAQH CORE Attachments Operating Rules, the industry is expected to see significant savings. Per the 2021 CAQH Index, an annual benchmark report which tracks the adoption of electronic administrative transactions, manual submission of attachments costs the medical industry $5.46 per transaction and electronic adoption could save upwards of 75% per transaction. Data from the pending 2022 CAQH Index, combined with several pilot studies measuring the impact of the attachments operating rules will contextualize the impact of these new operating rules. Session participants will learn about how existing rules support the request, flow, and acknowledgment of attachments for claims and identify data-based cost and time savings for the industry. Session participants will also hear updates from the CAQH CORE team on 2023 healthcare claims initiatives. CAQH CORE will be convening an industry work group in the first half of the year to further improve existing healthcare claims workflows. Based on opportunities identified by an advisory group comprised of industry experts held in late 2022, industry stakeholders will focus on addressing key topics that include addressing provider burden reduction originating from rejected claims and establishing how existing claims workflows can be applied to drive the adoption of value-based payments (VBP). This diverse group of plans, providers, vendors, government agencies, and associations will further refine the opportunities identified. Speakers will summarize the potential for claims operating rules under VBP contracts, telehealth, appeals, claim rejection notification, and error reporting.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Summarize how recently published CAQH CORE Attachments Operating Rules help streamline the healthcare claims workflow
- Identify recent trends in the industry around the electronic adoption of healthcare claims
4:30pm-5:30pm: General Session
Commercial Payor Session Presented by Representatives of Aetna, Cigna, & United Healthcare
Join representatives from Aetna, Cigna, and United Healthcare as they review the most recent changes and future developments related to the RCM industry.
5:30pm-7:30pm: Opening Reception
September 27th - Day 2
7:00am-8:00am: Breakfast
8:00am-8:15am: President's Welcome Presented by Landon Tooke
8:15am-9:15am: Keynote Presentation
The Accountability Advantage™: Building a Sustainable, High-Performance, Workplace Culture Presented by Sam Silverstein
What does it look like when EVERY member of your organization keeps their commitments? When truth and values are held in the highest esteem? It looks like next-level success. It feels like positive momentum. It lays the foundation for creativity, collaboration and high performance. Sam knows first-hand how to create a corporate culture that engages employees, maximizes productivity, and inspires accountability. You’ll walk away from his program with highly effective tools to build trust, enhance engagement, cultivate more meaningful relationships, and truly come together as a cohesive team. There’s never been a more important time to create a shift in culture and commitment.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Discover the five critical steps to build a culture-by-design
- Design a culture based on commitments and values
- Leverage the power of cultural values – internally, externally, and communally
- Effectively counteract "The Great Resignation" and "Quiet Quitting"
- Remove obstacles and excuses to inspire collaboration and accountability
- Create an organizational culture obsession that will drive your culture to stronger performance and customer experience
9:15am-10:15am: General Session
Using AI tools to reduce Revenue Leakage Presented by Mark Anderson
Using comprehensive and extensive new AI tools that pull data at the claim level, the RCM team was able to identify 10 areas of revenue leakage for a large hospital system with over 500 employee physicians in the Mid-West. By using the new AI tools, the team created an automated workflow and tasking process that identifies areas of improvement by claim level with actionable tasks. The results eliminated denials by 23%, improved the clean claim and first payment rates by 18%, reduced overall days in AR days by 22%, identify and reduced under payments by 18%, reduced bad debt by 37%, reduced open claims over 30 days by 32%, reduced liability claim (WC, Auto, and Personal Injury) AR over 90 by 32% and improved overall staff effectives and productivity by 17%.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Learn how new AI tools can help your RCM team identify revenue leakage in a timely manner with measurable and attainable improvements that can help improve overall cash collections for your clients which leads to improve overall payments to the RCM company
- Learn how to quantify the improvements using base-line KPIs and through the use of the AI reporting tools, identify areas of improvement with actionable tools to improve effectiveness
- Learn how to communicate to your clients the overall effect of reducing revenue leakage and show how you can improve their bottom-line cash collections from 3 to 8%
- Quantify reductions in Days in AR by financial class comparing base-line KPIs to the results after using the AI tools and implementing new processes
10:15am-11:15am: Exhibit Hall Break
11:15am-12:15pm: Concurrent Sessions:
- Executive Track: Unmasking the Digital Battlefield for Revenue Cycle Management: A Cybersecurity Q&A Session You Can't Afford to Miss! Presented by Richard Raue & Landon Tooke
Step into the enthralling world of cybersecurity, where the constant battle between cyber villains and digital defenders rages on. In this captivating session, we will delve into the unique challenges faced by Revenue Cycle Management companies, as they confront the relentless onslaught of malicious cyber threats targeting their critical operations. Discover how cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and next-generation firewalls, are being harnessed to revolutionize RCM security. Learn how these pioneering strategies empower businesses to predict, identify, and thwart cyberattacks, safeguarding their invaluable assets and ensuring the continuity of their operations.
Come and hear a riveting, interactive discussion featuring two esteemed panelists: one, a high-ranking executive and compliance expert from a successful RCM company, and the other, a renowned cybersecurity expert, both ready to delve into the pressing cyber issues and threats of our time. As businesses, big and small, grapple with the challenges of regulatory compliance, skyrocketing cyber liability insurance costs, and an ever-growing landscape of security threats, our panel will masterfully navigate the five essential domains of cybersecurity—Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. Engaging and thought-provoking, this presentation is designed to encourage audience participation. So, come armed with your most pressing questions and real-world scenarios, and seize this opportunity to gain invaluable insights and solutions from industry leaders.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Gain a deeper understanding of the unique cybersecurity challenges faced by Revenue Cycle Management companies
- Explore cutting-edge security technologies
- Learn about the strategic application of the five essential domains of cybersecurity
- Engage in an interactive dialogue with esteemed panelists from both the RCM and cybersecurity industries
- Enhance their ability to predict, identify, and thwart cyber threats
- Receive a cyber readiness and incident response checklists
- Operational Track: Properly Balancing your Onshore, Offshore and Partner Workforce Presented by Michael Johnson
This presentation would be on creating a balance between onshore staff, offshore staff and introducing a concept called Partner Workforce. The presentation will get into what roles and functions are best performed by various stakeholders and how to determine if you have the right approach. How does your workforce balance impact profitability, client retention, company valuation and M&A opportunities.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Understand the benefits and challenges of using a mix of onshore, offshore, and partner workforce in healthcare revenue cycle management
- Develop strategies for effectively managing and communicating with a diverse, distributed workforce
- Learn best practices for selecting and collaborating with partners and offshore resources, including considerations for data security and regulatory compliance
12:15pm-1:30pm: Lunch
1:30pm-2:30pm: Concurrent Sessions:
- Executive Track: The 5 Stages of Grief, Lessons Learned From Real Life Audit Experiences Presented by Eric Christensen
Don’t be in denial, prepare how HHS, OCR, DOJ, CMS, and other payor’s audit process works in the real world. We’ve all been there or are worried that it will happen to us. Resources and examples will be presented on real-life audits and the reaction steps necessary in hundreds of real-world cases. Educate yourself on what does and doesn’t work with auditors, and how to prepare yourself ahead of time for the possibility of an audit.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Experience the audit process firsthand through examples of hundreds of practices, like yours
- Take away examples of successful responses and appeals, and how to leverage them for your organization
- Develop an “action plan” for documentation and audit response
- Prepare to put aside the "grief" cycle and come out a winner on the other side
- Operational Track: Did I just hear what I think you said? Presented by Karna Morrow & Sara Nofziger-Drew
Despite all the advances in technology, success in the healthcare industry still comes down to a single person connecting with another person. Each team member plays a vital role in the patient experience, the client experience, and even the employee experience within your company. When the experience is less than desired, poor communication is frequently the culprit. During this session we will unpack the critical skills necessary to navigate cross-cultural communication in your organization.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Explore the ways in which a listener hears the message
- Discover the root cause of miscommunication internally and externally to the company
- Learn the fundamentals needed to effectively communicate in a multi-cultural setting
- Manage the culture- inside and outside the building- within in your company to reinforce effective communication
- Identify the skills needed and ways to share those skills with your team to improve communication
2:30pm-3:30pm: Exhibit Hall Break
3:30pm-5:00pm: General Session
Round Table Session
Join subject matter experts and your peers to discuss various topics that relate directly to the RCM industry. Attendees will rotate tables several times to allow you to discuss topics that mean the most to you!
5:00pm-7:00pm: Reception
September 28th - Day 3
7:00am-8:00am: Breakfast
8:00am-8:10am: President's Recap Presented by Landon Tooke
8:10am-9:30am: General Session
Robotic Processes Panel Presented by Desmond Meridian & Josh Lomers
This session will provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of RPA technology in the healthcare industry. We will review its advantages including improved efficiency, accuracy, and cost savings; its applications in revenue cycle from tools and platforms available to their features and capabilities along with elements for consideration in choosing an RPA solution; and the steps involved in implementing and managing RPA projects for RCM. Our open forum setting will also provide real-world examples of RPA success stories in the revenue cycle to help inspire and motivate participants to explore RPA as a solution for their own organization's revenue cycle challenges. RPA's simplicity is one of its main advantages. It opens technology to a broad variety of people and enables businesses to rapidly and simply apply automated solutions to increase productivity, accuracy, and cost savings.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Understand RPA technology in the healthcare industry
- Learn the tools and platforms available in the market that are especially built for revenue cycle and elements for selecting an RPA tool
- Identify repetitive, rules-based processes now done by revenue cycle employees and assess their eligibility for automation using this technology
- Discover the best practices for implementing RPA bots in a revenue cycle context, including testing, monitoring, and upkeep
9:30am-10:30am: General Session
Washington Update Presented by Matt Reiter
Legislative and regulatory policies can have a major impact on the RCM industry and our physician clients. Understanding these policies is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity! This session will review important political and policy changes over the last year and look ahead to what policy changes to expect into the future.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Understand how election results impact the policymaking process
- Learn about policy changes that impact the RCM industry and what to expect in the future
- Learn about how HBMA’s advocacy is helping our members and the RCM industry
10:30am-11:30am: Exhibit Hall Break
11:30am-12:30pm: Concurrent Sessions:
- Executive Track: The Future Is Now—Drive Workflow Efficiency & Improve Profitability with Robotic Process Automation Presented by Brian Cafferty
Today’s medical billers are often bogged down by mundane, repetitive tasks that prevent them from focusing on higher-value, revenue-generating activities. For billing companies, especially those looking to scale their business, this issue can become a roadblock towards increasing efficiency and maintaining employee morale.
Discover how you can automate and streamline billing workflows while improving your revenue cycle management. Kareo’s VP of RPA Development, Brian Cafferty, will guide you through an overview of robotic process automation (RPA) and the key challenges it solves. He’ll also highlight how medical billing companies have leveraged RPA to transform their operations positioned themselves to efficiently scale their business.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Understand what robotic automation is and how automation can help their business operate more efficiently, so they’re prepared for future growth
- Identify current business workflows that would benefit from automation and feel inspired about what this means for the future of their business operations
- Speak confidently with employees and business partners about the benefits of adopting RPA solutions
- Operational Track: The Wicked Tendencies of Revenue Cycle Management: Reimagining the Approach to Benchmarking KPIs Presented by Landon Tooke
A wicked problem is a complex and elusive challenge that defies easy definition and resists simple solutions. It is an inherently multifaceted issue with multiple stakeholders, perspectives, and underlying causes. A wicked problem is not just difficult. It is also often dynamic, meaning that it can change over time in response to external factors, new information, or shifting values.
This session explores revenue cycle management’s “wicked” tendencies and the challenges they create in measuring key performance and productivity indicators. The session will dismantle the comforts of “best practices” and reliance on published benchmarks. Instead, audience members will learn the importance of operationalizing the use of descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. For fun, audience members will receive a list of KPIs and suggested benchmarks for use as a reference.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Understand the challenges of measuring revenue cycle performance and productivity indicators
- Rethink the utility of “best practices” and benchmarking
- Reimagine their approach to analytics to achieve a more desirable result
12:30pm-1:30pm: Lunch
1:30pm-2:30pm: Concurrent Sessions:
- Executive Track: CEO Panel – Company Culture Presented by Jennifer Hicks, Joshua Klinge, & Ron Decker
Join our executive panel of HBMA member companies as they discuss the importance of company culture for employee retention, office morale, efficiency, and more! Get real world knowledge and experience on how they successfully developed and grew their company culture. Discover the changes they noticed in their team’s work product as their culture changed and evolved.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Gain different perspectives on developing company cultures
- Understand the importance of good company culture as it relates to employees
- Learn ways to develop your own company culture
- Operational Track: Getting Ready for 2024: Coding and Compliance Update Presented by Melody Mulaik
This session is designed to prepare billing company staff for accurate assignment of procedure codes for physician services in 2024. Significant new and revised CPT® codes will be reviewed and discussed. Important changes to CPT® guidelines (e.g., CPT® manual section introductions) will also be reviewed. New and proposed compliance updates will also be discussed. Finally, attendees will receive tips for identifying action items for implementing the new and revised procedures codes.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Review and discuss the most significant new and revised CPT® procedure codes and guidelines for 2024
- Review and discuss the most significant known and proposed compliance updates for 2024
- Identify steps that billing companies need to take to prepare for accurate code assignment in 2024
2:30pm-2:40pm: Break
2:40pm-3:40pm: Concurrent Sessions:
- Executive Track: The State of the RCM Market, the M&A Environment, and What it Means for Your Business Presented by Don Wanner
The RCM market has evolved significantly over the past several years and will continue to do so as organizations seek to navigate labor challenges, the proliferation of new technologies to improve productivity, and changing consumer preferences. Further, M&A activity continues to reshape the competitive landscape of the industry. Private Equity firms are investing significant dollars to acquire key players in the sector, which has implications for specialty focused small and mid-sized RCM providers. We will help to unpack all of these dynamics and provide insight into how the to capitalize on a changing market and continue to build value in your business.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Gain an understanding of the current state of the physician RCM market
- Receive an update on recent industry trends
- Learn current M&A activity and valuations
- Receive guidance on how individuals can build value in their own RCM billing organizations
- Operational Track: Negotiating Managed Care Contracts – Secrets from a Former Managed Care Executive Presented by Ron Howrigon
With labor costs on the rise and inflation impacting all aspects of medical practice, groups need to look at their managed care contracts to increase revenue. Successful negotiation of these agreements can be the difference between a thriving practice and a downward spiral of financial ruin. Managed care companies recognize this fact and deploy teams of highly trained and experienced negotiators to tip the balance of power in their favor. This presentation is designed to show participants how to successfully negotiate managed care agreements using trade secrets from a former managed care negotiator. The presenter will take the group through the entire negotiation process, from beginning to end, and show them how to effectively deal with these managed care relationships.
Learning Objectives:
Course participants will be able to:
- Learn how to evaluate positions and proposals
- Develop best strategies for given situations
- Understand the negotiation process
- Evaluation of reimbursement types
3:40pm-3:50pm: Break
3:50pm-5:30pm: General Session
Closing Session - HBMA Through the Years
A pre celebration with past HBMA presidents, recaps of HBMA's growth through the years, games, awards, and more! You will not want to miss this!
5:30pm-9:00pm: 30th Anniversary Party