CRHC REMINDER: ICD-10 Training

• Too busy to go to ICD-10 training?
• Perhaps, you’ve attended ICD-10 Workshops, but would love additional training?
• Is your budget stretched thin already -- and you wish you could find an unbelievable bargain for your staff to learn ICD-10 and how to become proficient with the rules and regulations of the future?
• If you answered yes to any of the above questions, CRHC can help now!!

Take advantage of this opportunity to enroll in the following online courses that will prepare you and your organization for the successful transition to ICD 10. These courses will provide you with history, structure, functions, guidelines and the terminology needed to ensure accurate and efficient billing processes. Whether you are a new coder, an advanced coder with years of experience, or a health care provider -- you will find value in this timely information. For more information on a specific course, please click on the links below.

If you are employed by a Colorado Critical Access Hospital (CAH) or a rural PPS hospital with less than 49 beds, you are currently participating in the FY2011 SHIP Grant Program – and -- your online classes are FREE to all hospital staff!!! Click here to get started now!

If you are a Rural Health Center (RHC) or other rural health care facility in Colorado, please click here for a class listing and the opportunities available to you!

CEU’s are available for all classes. Don’t wait…get started today!

For more information or questions, please contact Danette Swanson, HIT Program Coordinator, at ds@coruralhealth.org.

ARHPC Coding Certification Bootcamp: November 28-30

Colorado Rural Health Center is hosting the ARHPC Coding Certification Bootcamp: Coding Certification for Rural Healthcare Facilities.  The 3 day event will begin November 28 at the Double Tree Hotel (13696 East Iliff Place, Aurora, CO 80014).

Presenters will include John Beard and John Burns, both of ARHPC.  They will provide valuable information needed to meet your coding, reimbursement and compliance goals for 2013.  Upon successful completion of this bootcamp, attendees will be eligible to take the online coding certification test through ARHPC at no addition cost.

Registration for this event can be found here.

Colorado Medicare Claims Transition from Trailblazers to Novitas Solutions

As of October 19,  Trailblazers stopped receiving all mail and requests in their role as the Medicare Contractor and forwarded these to Novitas Solutions. All future communication must go through Novitas. Since Novitas has prior experience as a MAC for a number of eastern states, CMS anticipates that the transfer to a new MAC will go smoothly, with few disruptions for Medicare beneficiaries or providers. However, providers should prepare for possible delays and implementation glitches.

THE Consortium November Webinar - Stage Two Meaningful Use & New Federal Guidelines on CORE

Please join us for THE Consortium webinar on Thursday, Novebmer 8, 2012 from 12:00pm - 1:15pm where we'll start our discussion on Stage 2 Meaningful Use and review the new Federal guidelines on Eligibility and Claims Status (CORE).  Tammie Harrington from CMR will also join us as a guest speaker during this time.

You can register for the November webinar here.

Reminder: Last week to register for Annual Conference

We would like to remind our REC and Consortium colleagues that this is the last week to register for Colorado Rural Health Center's 2012 Annual Conference in Colorado Springs.  The conference will be held at the Antlers Hilton October 25-26. 

For those of you who plan to attend, you can find this year's agenda here.  We are very much looking forward to CRHC's Senior HIT Adviser, David Ginsberg, to host two breakout session on topics very pertinent to EHR.  We hope to see you there!

To register for the conference, click this link.

The ICD-10 Planning Checklist

Last week, CMS released an ICD-10 Planning Checklist to assist providers, payers and vendors inpreparation for the ICD-10 transition set for October 1, 2014. Whether you've already started or are just beginning your ICD-10 transition, you will need to thoughtfully plan for the transition and then communicate those strategies to internal staff and external partners. Below are a few steps to help guide your planning process:

• Seek Resources on the ICD-10 transition. CMS and professional and membership organizations have developed information and resources to guide you through ICD-10 implementation.
• Establish an ICD-10 Project Team. This team will be responsible for overseeing the ICD-10 transition, and will vary based on the size of your organization. Larger practices should have a team with representatives from different departments (e.g., executive leadership, physicians, and IT). Smaller practices may only have one or two individuals responsible for helping the practice make the switch to ICD-10.
• Develop an ICD-10 Communication and Awareness Plan. This plan will map out how your organization will communicate with internal staff and external partners about ICD-10 throughout the transition.
• Revisit and Revise Your Implementation Timeline. Since the ICD-10 compliance deadline is now October 1, 2014, your timeline for ICD-10 implementation activities will need to be updated.
• Share Your Implementation Plans and Timelines. Discuss the new ICD-10 compliance deadline and share your revised implementation plans and timelines with internal staff and external partners to ensure transition activities are coordinated.

Communication and collaboration will help organizations as they transition to ICD-10. As you continue planning, share lessons learned and best practices with CRHC and others in your area. You can do this through organization newsletters and social media as well as at conferences, workshops, and other educational events. Remember, ICD-10 will affect everyone currently using ICD-9 codes!

HHS Announces Corrections to ICD-10 and Health Plan Identifier Final Rule

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a notice listing corrections of technical errors made in the recently published final rule that marks the ICD-10 compliance date as Oct. 1, 2014 and mandates a health plan identifier. It also lists the correct identifier compliance dates for most health plans, small health plans and all covered entities. Read the full Federal Register notice.

CMS Delays in Responding to Hospital Meaningful Use Attestations

Several of our hospitals who recently attested to Medicare meaningful use have reported it taking longer than expected to receive notification from Trailblazers confirming their attestation submission and requesting cost date for the CAH incentive payment. Over the last year most hospitals received the letter within two to three weeks of attestation; they then have 10 days to complete and return the incentive calculation materials (we would like to remind all CAHs that are reading this blog to use the workbook we developed for this purpose as it has a high success rate in terms of approval and closely follows recently released CMS audit guidelines).

Just this week, Trailblazers told one of our CAHs that they receive the attestation file from CMS only on a monthly basis-thus hospitals who attest early in the month can wait up to four weeks to receive their notification letter!

Trailblazers also noted that attestations done in September will be handled initially by them in terms of sending the notification letter and receiving the cost data-but this will then be turned over to Novitas for processing. Please alert us to any issues you are seeing with the Novitas transition for incentive payments.

THE Consortium October Webinar: POSTPONED

Due to scheduling conflicts and the overall time frame as we move closer to the CRHC Annual Conference, THE Consortium webinar on Thursday, October 18, 2012 at12:00pm has been postponed.  The next webinar will be November 8th with information provided by our special guest, Tammie Harrington from CMR.

We apologize for any inconvenience.  We are certainly excited, however, to have CRHC's Senior Adviser, David Ginsberg, provide HIT insight during 2 breakout sessions at this year's conference.

To register for the conference, click here.

THE Consortium October Webinar: Stage 2 Meaningful Use

Please join us for THE Consortium webinar on Thursday, October 18, 2012 from 12:00pm - 1:15pm MDT where we'll discuss "Stage 2 Meaningful Use - How Soon Should You Begin Preparations?"

Many hospitals and provider clinics are faced with a continuation to meet Stage 1 as well as consider options for Stage 2. As a result it isn't too early to begin to strategize, especially because some Stage 1 requirements are eliminated in 2013.

To register for the webinar, click here.

CRHC Reminder: ICD 10 Online Workshops

·         Too busy to go to ICD-10 training?

·         Perhaps, you’ve attended ICD-10 Workshops, but would love additional training?

·         Is your budget stretched thin already -- and you wish you could find an unbelievable bargain for your staff to learn ICD-10 and how to become proficient with the rules and regulations of the future?

·         If you answered yes to any of the above questions, CRHC can help now!!

Take advantage of this opportunity to enroll in the following online courses that will prepare you and your organization for the successful transition to ICD 10.  These courses will provide you with history, structure, functions, guidelines and the terminology needed to ensure accurate and efficient billing processes. Whether you are a new coder, an advanced coder with years of experience, or a health care provider -- you will find value in this timely information. For more information on a specific course, please click on the links below. 

If you are employed by a Colorado Critical Access Hospital (CAH) or a rural PPS hospital with less than 49 beds, you are currently participating in the FY2011 SHIP Grant Program – and -- your online classes are FREE to all hospital staff!!! Click here to get started now!

If you are a Rural Health Center (RHC) or other rural health care facility in Colorado, please click here for a class listing and the opportunities available to you!

CEU’s are available for all classes. Don’t wait…get started today!

For more information or questions, please contact Danette Swanson, HIT Program Coordinator, at ds@coruralhealth.org