Healthcare Business Management Association - HBMA
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September - October 2015 •
Volume 20, Issue 5
HBMA Makes Significant Progress Following Strategic Plan Review
President's Message
By Curt Cvikota, CHBME
It's hard to believe that summer is over and we are rapidly approaching the last quarter of the year. Our board, committee volunteers, and staff have been working all year to make sure that HBMA remains the leading trade association in the revenue cycle management industry. Click for more

News & Notes
News for HBMA Members
By Billing Editors
HBMA Members Cast Their Votes to Fill Open Seats on Board of Directors; Do You Have a Story to Tell?; New HBMA Members Click for more

Should Offshore Outsourcing Be Your Next Step?
Use it to Focus on High-Value Tasks
By Paul Bernard
Perpetually flat to declining fee-for-service reimbursements and increasing patient A/R—and the struggles that come with collecting it—means private practices must constantly strive to reduce their own overhead. Click for more

Managed Care Contracting and Reimbursement
Three Techniques to Up the Ante
By Steve Selbst and Susan E. Charkin
In this article, we will examine three analytical techniques for increasing your commercial payor contracts' reimbursements. Click for more

The Results Are In!
HBMA Members Share How the ACA Has Impacted Them
By Billing Editors
In the spring of this year, the Publications Committee sent out a survey aimed at gathering data on how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has affected HBMA members. Our purpose was to share the results in order to educate HBMA members and help them make informed decisions. Click for more

Beating the Blame Game
Staff Shouldn't Take All the Blame
By Kevin Herring
I recently worked with a seriously cynical supervisor – an accounting manager – who swore he had really smart employees. The problem: They kept making mistakes and falling behind on their work. Click for more

Keep It Simple with Basic Billing Benchmarks
How Does Your Company Compare?
By Kristina B. Ziehler, MPH
As a billing company, do you: a) Know you need to check outstanding accounts receivable and compare to the standard? b) Know the basic billing benchmarks? Hopefully your organization answers "yes" to both! If not, here are some practical tips and best practices for your billing company when it comes to benchmarks. Click for more

What Does it Take to Be a Leader?
There's a Difference Between Managing and Leading
By Michelle Ann Richards, BSHA, CPC, CPCO, CPMA, CPPM
Are you in charge but don't know if you are a manager or a supervisor? There are clear differences between the two – and the differences matter when it comes to being a leader. Click for more

Prepare for the Future of Healthcare Payments
Understand Requirements and Opportunities in Payment Technology
By Bill Marvin
At the start of each year, most consumer deductibles reset to their annual maximum amount, ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 – up nearly 50 percent since 2009, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. To address increasing patient payments, billing services must... Click for more

The Success of Healthcare EFT Standard and ERA
Real-Life Examples of Savings
By Priscilla Holland
In 2014, more than 149 million healthcare EFT standard transactions were processed through the ACH Network, saving the healthcare industry an estimated $740 million. Under HIPAA, providers are also able to receive electronic remittance advices (ERAs) if they request it from their health plan. Click for more

Improvements in Provider Payment Processing with Efficient Electronic Remittance Advice Processes
AMA Perspective
By the American Medical Association
In order to improve the efficiency of physician health claims payments, HIPAA requires health insurers to offer the electronic remittance advice (ERA) standard transaction upon physician request. Click for more

Tips for ICD-10 Implementation
ICD-10
By Valerie Fernandez, MBA, CPC, CPC-H, AHIMA ICD-10 Trainer
For the last couple of years the focus has been on preparing for ICD-10. Everyone has been encouraged to learn about the new code set. Clinicians have been given information to ensure their documentation is robust to meet the specificity requirements for ICD-10. Both internal and external testing of systems using the new code set has been underway. Click for more

X Modifier Update
Coding Corner
By Jackie Miller, RHIA, CCS-P, CPC
In August 2014, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Transmittal 1422, "Specific Modifiers for Distinct Procedural Services," which announced the creation of four new HCPCS modifiers for 2015. Click for more

Make Printing Spreadsheets Easier: Part One
Software
By Nate Moore, CPA, MBA, CMPE
Though many medical offices are trying hard to go paperless, sometimes it really helps to have a printed copy of a spreadsheet. More and more, printing doesn't mean paper, either. Lots of spreadsheets are distributed as PDF files. The advantage of printing, whether to paper or to a PDF file, is that you can control what your reader sees. Click for more

Is Bigger Better?
From the Road
By Dave Jakielo
Consolidation is still occurring in the medical billing industry. In the past few years, we have seen the highest-ranked medical billing company, ranked by annual revenue, purchase the third-ranking medical billing company. Click for more

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