I always find it fun when we get an extra day in the year. I think you should spend it doing something extraordinary. This year, I had the pleasure of doing just that by attending the Healthcare Provider Executive Roundtable Focusing on Governance, Regulatory, and Risk Management Hot Topics. The event, sponsored by Deloitte and Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, featured a number of experts talking about the future of healthcare delivery in light of regulatory changes including the Healthcare Reform Laws.

One of the first actions of the new Obama administration was to issue an order to undertake a legal and policy review of all regulations issued by the executive that have not yet gone into effect. The review may push back the effective dates of several regulation issued by CMS and HHS, or lead to their repeal. The Bush administration issued a similar directive when it first took office, suspending the effective dates for several final rules issued in the last days of the Clinton administration.

Attention District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania LCD users…..MAC J12 Part A LCD’s are here!!

Attention District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania LCD users…..MAC J12 Part A LCD’s have been posted on the MediRegs Regulation and Reimbursement Suite site as of today (10/03/08). Please see your state library or the LCD library to view the new MAC J12 Part A LCD’s today!
 

A smart user has asked: “Our system does not have the new codes effective 10/1/2008 loaded yet. Can I still use the old codes?”

The short answer is: there is NO grace period.

WK strives to deliver coding content as quickly as possible, and certainly before the effective date. Generally, content is posted to ChargeMaster comply within 48 hours, and to the coding tools and codebooks within a week. This can be difficult when CMS publishes data late. Please feel free to e-mail with any questions!!

A smart user who has access to both the CCH Reimbursement Toolkit Hospital Outpatient PPS Calculator and the MediRegs APC Grouper & Calculator in RRS/Plus has asked:
What is the difference between these 2 calculators?
I thought I’d share the summary with MediBloggers. Note that you’ll see reference here to the exciting new Coding & Audit Suites which will be available shortly.

There are 2 APC Calculators Available. Let me summarize them for you here:

Reimbursement Integrated Library

Dennis Barry’s Reimbursement Advisor

Each month, Dennis Barry’s Reimbursement Advisor includes two or three articles the offer practicalanalysis on specific aspects of healthcare provider reimbursement. Thenewsletter is particularly helpful in explaining some of the more complex areasof Medicare reimbursement and regulation. A good example of this is the leadstory in the July 2008 issue on Medicare bad debt. The article explains how a

MAC J1 LCDS for CA, Guam, HI, NV, American Samoa and North Marianna Islands

Attention American Samoa, California , Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and North Marianna Islands LCD users.....MAC J1 LCD's are here!!Attention American Samoa, California , Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and North Marianna Islands LCD users…..MAC J1 LCD’s have been posted on the MediRegs Regulation and Reimbursement Suite site as of today (6/16/08). Please see your state library or the LCD library to view the new MAC J1 LCD’s today!