Healthcare Articles

Office 365 has been a big boost for healthcare providers, who utilize the platform’s productivity and efficiency to provide better service for their patients and clients.

What goes into medical office accounting? For starters, you can’t manage what you can’t measure, so create statements that are meaningful for the practice. That’s just one of several helpful takeaways from the monthly chat with the Nashville Medical Group Management Association.

In 2018, clinicians must provide a full year of reporting on the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA) measures. To add another layer of complexity, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released new changes and updates for this year. An action plan put in place sooner, rather than later, can help ensure proper reporting.

With the continual arrival of new regulations and standards governing the healthcare industry, it is imperative for healthcare providers and hospitals to have an effective compliance plan in place.

CMS recently published the 2018 final rule for the Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The 2018 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance year contains several significant changes.

Scott R. Mertie and Katie Reid of Kraft Healthcare Consulting, LLC (KHC) were selected by the German American Chamber of Commerce® of the Midwest, Inc. (GACC Midwest) to participate in an exclusive international health and technology delegation in Germany.

MACRA (Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act) requires all clinicians who 1) bill Medicare more than $30,000 in Part B-allowed charges, or 2) provide care for more than 100 Medicare Part B beneficiaries to report specific data under the Quality Payment Program via either MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) or an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM).

Superheroes are often thought of as fictional, costumed crusaders who battle villains, but you need not open a comic book to marvel at the employees in various industries (including healthcare and government) who are fighting crime every day. Their weapon of choice? The Death Master File (DMF).

Lucy Carter, CPA, member and practice leader of the KraftCPAs healthcare industry team, led the Healthcare Industry Panel at The Rainmaker Companies SuperConference in June.

Any entity that handles health information or other sensitive data should be intimately familiar with HIPAA, HITECH and HITRUST.

The Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN), Form CMS-R-131, is issued by providers (including independent laboratories, home health agencies, and hospices), physicians, practitioners, and suppliers to Original Medicare (fee for service) beneficiaries in situations where Medicare payment is expected to be denied.

Healthcare systems are seeing global transformation, with governments and providers trying to reconcile increased costs with rising demand for greater accessibility and higher-quality care. In March, Scott Mertie, president of Kraft Healthcare Consulting, LLC, participated in the Nashville Health Care Council’s 2017 International Health Care Study Mission to the United Kingdom.

KraftCPAs has earned the designation of HITRUST CSF Assessor through the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST).

Less than two months into President Donald Trump’s White House tenure, the Nashville Health Care Council’s Leadership Health Care (LHC) initiative led a group of more than 100 healthcare leaders on its annual two-day delegation to Washington, D.C.

Is your practice experiencing a decline in net income? Do daily operations feel chaotic with complaints from patients about wait times, billing, etc.? Perhaps your practice is running smoothly enough, but you feel that things could be better.

Leadership Health Care (LHC), an initiative of the Nashville Health Care Council to nurture the talent of Nashville’s emerging health care leaders, has announced its 2016 award winners in the categories of Health Care Emerging Leader of the Year, Ambassador of the Year and Supporting Organization of the Year.

Consolidation among healthcare providers has increased over the past few years, in part because physician practices experience lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid, and they lack the bargaining power to drive up reimbursement rates from their commercial payers.

Throughout the years, Scott Mertie, president of Kraft Healthcare Consulting, LLC (KHC), has attended healthcare delegations to China and multiple European countries that have government-run healthcare systems. While Scott was visiting the Republic of Cuba on a personal excursion earlier this year, he envisioned a trip where the activities would allow him to explore the country’s national healthcare system.

Modifier -59, Distinct Procedural Service – “the go-to,” “catch-all,” “covers everything” modifier, has finally received a much needed update.

Professional services provided on or after Sept. 10, 2013, will be allowed by CMS to use the 1997 Documentation Guidelines (DG) concerning the extended History of Present Illness (HPI) in conjunction with the 1995 guideline for extended HPI.

As national health reform begins arriving at our door step, more and more physicians are taking down their shingles and joining hospitals or emerging national healthcare practice companies as employees.

Scott Mertie was part of a delegation of approximately 30 healthcare leaders to visit Paris in April — a trip spearheaded by the Nashville Health Care Council (NHCC).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released Medicare Fee-For-Service Recovery Audit Program Myths.

2nd Generation Capital, LLC, the merchant and investment banking firm affiliated with KraftCPAs PLLC, announced on Wednesday the successful acquisition of its Chattanooga-based client, Anesthesiologists Associated, P.C. (AA) by MEDNAX , Inc. (NYSE – MD).

Leadership Health Care (LHC), an initiative of the Nashville Health Care Council to nurture the talents of future health care leaders, has announced its 2012 award winners in the categories of Health Care Emerging Leader, Volunteer of the Year and Supporting Organization of the Year.

Healthcare providers are justifiably worried about cuts in reimbursement, but some are finding other services they already perform that can add legitimate revenue to the business if they are coded properly. As the healthcare industry coding system evolves, it is critical to understand code changes along with the relative reimbursement value of each change.

Despite opposition from the American Medical Association, the Medical Group Managers Association and numerous state specialty societies, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has approved RAC review of E/M services.

Superbills aren’t necessarily supposed include every code a physician might report. The superbill is typically a one-page reference of the most common codes used in a particular practice.

The Electronic Health Record Initiative program established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), for eligible healthcare professional and facilities, is being implemented, and CMS is preparing to begin compliance audits related to the “meaningful use” reporting rules.

CMS issued a proposed rule for comments on “Reporting and Returning of Overpayments”. This rule, if finalized, would require persons (providers and suppliers) to “report and return overpayments by the later of the date which is 60 days after the date on which the overpayment was identified; or any corresponding cost report is due, if applicable.”

What happens after a patient leaves a facility can have a huge impact on reimbursement.

CMS has announced that their contracted Recovery Audit Contractors will focus their attention on Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) in 2012 to determine if IRFs are submitting data compliantly.

Catholic Health Initiatives – Iowa (CHI) received a summary judgment in their favor from the District Court for Washington D.C. related to their FYE: June 30, 1997 cost report.

Scott Mertie traveled to London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland on a Health Care Study Mission.

Scott Mertie and Kevin Crumbo accompanied Governor Bredesen and Economic Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber on individual trade missions to China and Japan.