Healthcare Business Management Association - HBMA
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May - June 2014 •
Volume 19, Issue 3
The Value of Leadership in HBMA's Continued Success
Message from the President
By Jeanne A Gilreath, CHBME, HBMA President
As we approach the end of the second quarter of 2014, we can begin to reflect on the changes and commitments we have made this year. Click for more

SOUND OFF!
HBMA Members Sound Off on Hot Topics
By Billing Editors
Topic: Tell us how your first client and your latest client found out about your company. Click for more

Education Is on Our Mind
HBMA Committee News
By Phil Ellis, Chair, Education Committee
HBMA is revamping its approach to education, and members can already access a new educational benefit Click for more

The Commercial Payor Relations Committee
HBMA Committee News
By Greg Wehrman
Working Together with Payors Click for more

Keep Identities Safe
How Identity Theft Affects You and What You Can and Cannot Do About It
By Ester Horowitz
There have been a lot of news reports lately about identify theft occurring at major retailers, banks, and other institutions. In light of this, it is important to educate both professionals and consumers on what identify theft is, how it can occur, and what you can and cannot control about it. Click for more

The Payoffs and Perils of Working from Home
Is This the Right Model for Your Company?
By Yvonne Moncovich
These days, more people are choosing to work from home. According to Global Research Analytics, 2.6 percent of the US workforce consider home to be their primary place of work, and the number of employees working from home has increased by 79.7 percent between 2005 and 2012. Click for more

Third-Party Billing Company Compliance in 2014
Ten Tips to Consider
By Robert W. Liles, Esq.
What I am about to say probably will not come as a surprise to many of you. In order for a compliance plan to be effective, it must become an integral part of your billing organization.  Click for more

New Audiocast Helps Physicians Manage HIPAA Security and Privacy
AMA Perspective
Published with permission of the American Medical Association (AMA)
A new audiocast produced by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) will help physician practices enhance their security policies and mitigate risk under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Click for more

How the Threat of Data Breaches Can Help Make Billing Services More Secure
Feature Story
By Mark Krapels
As the compliance officer for a large organization in the healthcare and financial sectors, I am distressed to hear recent reports of large-scale data breaches across all industries. In light of these data breaches, it is important to think about how they affect the enormous amounts of sensitive healthcare payments data that are processed every day. Click for more

If Customers Are Now Assets, Are Employees Still Costs?
Learn How to Calculate Employee Lifetime Value
By Kevin Herring
Several years ago, marketers began to consider customers as business assets, recognizing that some were more valuable and costly to acquire than others. So they developed a tool called Customer Lifetime Value, or CLV. This tool helped them determine how valuable different customer segments were and how much they should be spending to acquire customers in those segments. Click for more

Keeping Specialists Compliant
Coding Corner
By Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS, CRA, FAHRA, RCC, CPC, CPC-H
It can sometimes be difficult to select a topic for this column that will appeal to all of our readers. My goal is to always write about something that is relevant to a billing company regardless of its coding model. This article, though, will highlight some key areas of concern that tend to impact "specialists," or medical practitioners who focus on a particular class of disease or patients. Click for more

Code Ulcers Appropriately
ICD-10
By Valerie Fernandez, MBA, CPC, CPC-H, AHIMA ICD-10 Trainer
Even though the implementation of ICD-10 has been delayed for a year, it is important to consider how to appropriately code specific medical conditions. Ulcers represent one general diagnosis category that require specificity under ICD-10. Click for more

Remove Duplicates Quickly and Painlessly in Excel
Software
By Nate Moore, CPA, MBA, CMPE
It is often helpful to review a unique list of patients, procedure codes, or diagnosis codes when analyzing data. However, you may sometimes find that you have duplicate information within the list you are reviewing. Fortunately, Excel makes it easy to quickly remove duplicates, and in this column, I will show you how to do it. Click for more

Medicare Connects the SGR Fix to EHRs
EHR Issues
By Ron Sterling
On February 6, 2014, members of Congress introduced a bill to "fix" the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) by changing a number of Medicare payment aspects and focusing on quality. The SGR is a calculated "take-back" that has accumulated to 24 percent from 2002 to 2014. Click for more

Medical Billing Is Not Enough
From the Road
By Dave Jakielo, CHBME
For many years, most of us have considered ourselves to be in the medical billing industry. For decades, that has been sufficient. However, now that healthcare is evolving and changing at such a rapid pace, it is probably not enough to just offer "billing services" and expect to be a viable company in the future. Click for more

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