The Importance of Audience

Posted November 7th, 2011 by Wes // in Business, Healthcare, Random Thoughts // No Comments

Take a few moments and read this: http://www.hitechanswers.net/getting-staff-buy-in-for-ehr-implementation/.  Marsha form our tribe shared this with me over the weekend and I think it’s a fantastic way to illustrate the importance of considering your audience before speaking.  Abraham Lincoln famously quipped "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt".  Many times, in my experience, consideration (or lack thereof) of the audience is the difference between a foolish remark and a profound one.  Seldom is the point totally invalid – it’s just delivered in such a way that the audience can’t connect with it (or, in extreme cases, even offends).  I think we all have a lot to learn from this.

Challenge for the week – think about the audience in front of you (this can be a client, a co-worker, your child, your spouse, etc….) before you speak.  Be conscious of the result.  Did it make a difference?

ALERT TO PHYSICIANS WHO HAVE RECEIVED LETTERS RE. E-PRESCRIBE NON-COMPLIANCE

Posted October 31st, 2011 by Wes // in Healthcare // No Comments

ALERT TO PHYSICIANS WHO HAVE RECEIVED LETTERS RE. E-PRESCRIBE NON-COMPLIANCE

CMS sent out letters this week to physicians that they believed had not sent in at least 10 e-prescriptions on Medicare Part B patients by June 30, 2011. Consequently, these physicians will be docked 1% of their Medicare Part B payments in 2012.

Unfortunately, there are physicians appearing on the list that have submitted the required 10 e-prescriptions by June 30^th and their names erroneously appear. This has created “widespread panic” among practices that attempted to comply with the e-prescribe regulations and are now not sure what to do. To compound the problem, the Payment Adjustment Feedback Report that was supposed to be available prior to November 1^st to verify the billing information by practice is now not going to be released until November or December. So there is no way to check directly at this point.

Therefore, practices are urged to take these steps:

• Have their billing department pull remits/EOBs and establish the list of patients that had prescriptions submitted between January 1, 2011 – June 30, 2011 that had the N365 code appear in the G88553 box on the form. This will verify that the claim was captured for e-prescribe. Note: the only prescriptions that will be tabulated are Medicare Part B fee-for-service patients and do not include Medicare Advantage patients.

• Have the physicians apply for an e-prescribe exemption through the CMS website. Here is the information on how to access and tips about registering. Note, there is not a category for exemption that covers this situation, so the practice will need to check off another category and then list their explanation in the Justification for Hardship Exemption box:

Please keep in mind that the physician must file by November 1, 2011, so they should start working on it now. It is a simple one-page form that is done online, but must be done by the provider. Keep in mind:

https://www.qualitynet.org/portal/server.pt/community/communications_support_system/234

Above is the link to CMS to apply for an exemption. The form is very short. All the physician needs to do is enter his/her name, address, NPI, TIN and with 250 words or less state why he/she should receive an exemption. The physician needs to select which exemption he/she wishes to seek and give the justification. At the bottom of the page, the physician will click the “I accept” button and then hit “Submit.”

A few things to note:

• Under the section marked “Requestor Relationship” they need to select “Health Care Provider.” Any other selection will kick out the request, since the physician is supposed to complete the request for him or herself.
• All fields marked with a red asterisk need to be filled out or an error message will pop up and the submission can’t go forward.

Once the physician completes the submission, he/she should receive an e-mail within a few minutes telling them that their submission was received. It usually takes about 30 days to process, but the e-mail acknowledging it is almost instantaneous. If they do not receive an e-mail within about 10 minutes (check the Spam folder!) have them resubmit.

Meaningful to who?

Posted September 6th, 2010 by David // in Healthcare // No Comments

Someone had a heatstroke?  Obviously, no time wasted with poor EMT service because the side of the rescue squad reads “ISO 9000 Certified”.  Medics respond and its time to watch the certified process make a guaranteed quality rescue!  Out comes the ISO 9000 manual and here comes certified quality!  Stretcher pulled out, patient attached, stretcher turned upside down, patient and stretcher deposited upside-down in the vehicle and off they go to the ER.  Here is ISO certified process followed by quality patient care…right?  NO!  Why not?  Achieving ISO 9000 and simply documenting existing processes with no improvement is a complete waste of effort.  In the medical profession, this begs the questions “What is meaningful use and who is it meaningful to?”

Meaningful use has monetary incentives attached but what is the real value?  Is the value the income for the PM/EMR vendors, the economic incentive to the practice or improved care for the patient?  In reality, the answer is “all of the above”, but the best answer is improved care for the patient.  In any service industry, including healthcare, putting anyone except the customer first will be a long-term detriment to the organization.  To keep focused on the long-term goals, questions to consider are:

• Is the practice management application being efficiently utilized prior to meaningful use?
• Is the EMR application being efficiently utilized prior to meaningful use?
• Is the primary goal for the benefit of the patient, the benefit of the practice or other reasons?
• Is the criteria for and the process of attaining meaningful use being viewed as:
  • The ceiling or the floor for all future PM/EMR efficiencies?
  • An opportunity for financial gain of for implementing change, improvement and efficiencies for the practice?

If meaningful use is being followed solely with the practice in mind, it would seem that patient care runs the risk of suffering.  However, if it is being pursued solely with the patient in mind, it would seem that the practice profitability runs the risk of suffering.  Like everything in life, the answer is a proper balance of more than one goal.  A practice is in the business of healing and profitability.  Focusing primarily (not solely) on the patient and secondarily (not solely) on the practice should allow both to derive optimal benefit from meaningful use.

When all is said and done, is the end result meaningful abuse, meaningful misuse, meaningless use or is it actually meaningful use and meaningful to whom?  Will ongoing internal practice and technological improvements stop when the third-party economic incentives are discontinued?  The answer to these questions will have a big influence on the opinion, implementation, impact and beneficiaries of meaningful use.

Attorney General Cordray warns us of new H1N1 scam

Posted December 4th, 2009 by Wes // in Agil IT News, Business, Healthcare, Technical // No Comments

Today I received this press release from the Ohio Attorney General’s office regarding a new computer virus scam.  I checked this one out and it’s legitimate so I thought we should let the tribe members know about it.  If you have questions feel free to contact me at aemswiler@agilit.com.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Posing as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scammers have found a new angle in the effort to exploit fears driven by the spread of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, sometimes called “swine flu.”  Attorney General Richard Cordray today urges Ohioans to beware of an email which carries a computer virus that may infect your computer and provide a stranger with access to your personal information.

The bogus email announces the launch of a “state vaccination H1N1 program” and encourages the user to create a personal vaccination profile.  It provides a link to a Web page that looks similar to the CDC site.  Within the page are downloadable instructions for creating your personal vaccination profile.

Cordray warns that by downloading the instructions, visitors are downloading a virus onto their computers.

“Any time you receive an email from someone you are not familiar wth, I strongly recommend avoiding the provided links,” said Cordray.  “clicking on that link can unleash downloadable viruses capable of capturing your personal information and sending it back to the scam artist.”

Because of these potential phishing attacks and email scams, Cordray encourages consumers who are interested in H1N1 influenza virus information to visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services informational web site at www.flu.gov or the Ohio Department of Health informational site, www.flu.ohio.gov.  Cordray also offers the following tips to help Ohioans avoid phishing scams:

• Contact the institution yourself: Don’t respond to unsolicited requests for your personal information.  Instead, contact the organization at a phone number or a web address you know to be correct.
• Don’t click on links in emails: Be cautious about opening any attachments or downloading any files from email messages.  Links and attachments can make your computer vulnerable to viruses.
• Look for warning signs: Misspelled words or a lack of personal greetings may signal fraud.  However, the presence of a personal greeting or a lack of errors does not guarantee legitimacy.  Always be skeptical.
• Use spam filters, anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and a firewall: Update your security software regularly.  The software can help stop your computer from accepting unwanted files that can be sent via phishing emails.
• Don’t give out personal information via email: Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information.  A bank or governmental agency will never request personal information via email.
• Monitor your accounts: Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them.  If you find unauthorized charges, immediately notify your bank or credit card provider.
• Report phishing scams to the company or organization the scam artist is impersonating and to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Report this phishing scam or any other scam to the Attorney General’s Office atwww.SpeakOutOhio.gov or by calling (800) 282-0515.