ICD-10 Coder Academy by RT Welter

ICD-10 Coder Academy – Sign Up Today for Registration Discounts!

The Discounted Registration Deadline for the ICD-10 Coder Academy is quickly approaching! Sign any time between now and December 15th to save!

This interactive and hands-on ICD-10 training is designed to prepare coders for the AAPC and AHIMA ICD-10 proficiency examinations. Participants will gain the tools they need to appropriately select ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS codes. These training sessions will be coder centric, and the content will be designed for those staff who will be responsible for applying (or verifying) these codes to documentation. Throughout the academy, participants will be given an assortment of scenarios to code to obtain the proficiency they need for coding in ICD-10.

Participants only needing ICD-10-CM training (physician and outpatient coding) should register for the first day of the academy only (Day 1).

Participants needing ICD-10-PCS training (hospital/inpatient coding) will need to register for the entire 3-day academy.
Overview of ICD-10 Academy Agenda — (lunch, snacks and drinks will be provided each day)

ICD-10-CM (Day 1) — AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainers will educate coding staff regarding ICD-10-CM with a focus on:

• Convention changes and additions 
• Concept changes and additions 
• Chapter specific guideline changes and additions 
• Live coding workshop 

**This training has the approval of 8.0 CEU’s from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) (AAPC members can submit these CEU’s to AAPC for credit)

ICD-10-PCS (Days 2 and 3) — AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainers will educate coding staff regarding ICD-10-PCS with a focus on:

• The structure of ICD-10-PCS text and codes 
• The definition and application of each root operation 
• The method by which an ICD-10-PCS code is selected 
• Live coding workshops 

**This training has the approval of 16.0 CEU’s from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) (AAPC members can submit these CEU’s to AAPC for credit)

Registration Discounts:

• Register by December 15, 2013 and receive $50.00 off the registration fee (per participant)!
• Practices registering 3+ participants will receive $50.00 off each registration fee (in addition to early registration discount if registered by December 15, 2013)
• Seating is limited, register now
• to guarantee your spot today!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Fall ICD-10 Workshops with RT Welter & Associates

Have you registered for the fall ICD 10 workshops with RT Welter & Associates?

Participants will learn about ICD 10 coding with an emphasis on common rural diagnosis. In addition we will review what documentation changes will need to be made and how providers can prepare. This year we are excited to include hands on exercises that will be tailored to your individual clinics! This educational activity is geared towards clinicians, billing and coding staff at rural hospitals and clinics. All healthcare providers, particularly physicians, are invited to attend. CEU’s will be available. Please register for a workshop at a location near you!

September 19th - Rifle, Colorado
September 24th - Lamar, Colorado
September 26th - Yuma, Colorado
October 1st - Webinar

Please contact Courtnay Ryan at cr@coruralhealth.org to register. Hope to see you there!

There's Still Time! - Register for ICD-10 fall workshops

Have you registered for the fall ICD 10 workshops with RT Welter & Associates?

Participants will learn about ICD 10 coding with an emphasis on common rural diagnosis. In addition we will review what documentation changes will need to be made and how providers can prepare. This year we are excited to include hands on exercises that will be tailored to your individual clinics! This educational activity is geared towards clinicians, billing and coding staff at rural hospitals and clinics. All healthcare providers, particularly physicians, are invited to attend. CEU’s will be available. Please register for a workshop at a location near you!

September 19th - Rifle, Colorado
September 24th - Lamar, Colorado
September 26th - Yuma, Colorado
October 1st - Webinar

Please contact Courtnay Ryan at cr@coruralhealth.org to register. Hope to see you there!

ICD-10 Billing and Coding Workshops

Please join CRHC for these workshops, presented by R.T. Welter & Associates, Inc., where participants will learn about ICD 10 coding with an emphasis on common rural diagnosis. In addition we will review what documentation changes will need to be made and how providers can prepare. This year we are excited to include hands on exercises that will be tailored to your individual clinics! This educational activity is geared towards clinicians, billing and coding staff at rural hospitals and clinics. All healthcare providers, particularly physicians, are invited to attend. CEU’s will be available. Three locations are being offered. Click on the location name for more details and registration:

• Rifle - September 19, 2013 
• Lamar - September 24, 2013 
• Yuma - September 26, 2013

ICD-10 Billing & Coding Workshops with RT Welter

R.T. Welter & Associates, Inc.: Participants will learn about ICD 10 coding with an emphasis on common rural diagnosis. In addition we will review what documentation changes will need to be made and how providers can prepare. This year we are excited to include hands on exercises that will be tailored to your individual clinics! This educational activity is geared towards clinicians, billing and coding staff at rural hospitals and clinics. All healthcare providers, particularly physicians, are invited to attend. CEU’s will be available.

Three locations are being offered. Click on the location name for more details:

Rifle - September 19, 2013

Lamar - September 24, 2013

Yuma - September 26, 2013

Sessions on End-to-End Testing for May

National Government Services (NGS), under contract to CMS, is hosting a series of webinars to gather insights and feedback from the health care industry on end-to-end testing of ICD-10 and other HIPAA administrative simplification requirements.

NGS has posted draft checklists to the End-to-End Testing section of the CMS website for discussion during upcoming webinars. The checklists focus on testing for:

• Payers 
• Large practices 
• Small practices 
• Vendor to provider testing 
• Vendor to payer testing 

NGS and CMS will further refine these draft checklists based on industry feedback.

CMS and NGS look forward to your feedback. Please register to attend one of the following webinars by emailing ngs.compliancetesting@wellpoint.com.

Webinar Schedule 

Date	Time	Industry Segment
May 1, 2013	2-3 p.m.	Payer
May 7, 2013	2-3 p.m.	Small Provider
May 8, 2013	2-3 p.m.	Large Provider
May 9, 2013	2-3 p.m.	Vendor

Keep Up to Date on ICD-10
Visit the CMS ICD-10 website for the latest news and resources to help you prepare for the October 1, 2014, deadline.

For practical transition tips:
Read recent ICD-10 email update messages Access the ICD-10 continuing medical education modules developed by CMS in partnership with Medscape

RT Welter newsletter

EHR Audits Q&A

With the news that CMS has started conducting pre-payment audits to monitor meaningful use payments, some providers have been worried about what it means if they get a letter in the mail. Rob Anthony, Deputy Director of the HIT Initiatives Group, Office of E-Health Standards and Services at CMS, sat down with EHRIntelligence to discuss how CMS is handling its audits of potential meaningful users, and to give some tips to providers about what to have on hand if an auditor comes knocking on the door.

What’s the purpose of meaningful use audits, and how do they help CMS and providers?
As a government agency, we do an audit for anything where we’re disbursing funds. We obviously want to be sure that the right people are getting paid who should get paid, and that people have done what they said they did. So we take the oversight of the payment pretty seriously, and a robust audit program is really an essential component of that oversight. And really, the purpose of the audits is partially to detect inaccuracies in things like eligibility or reporting and payment information, ensuring that the providers who are participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program are only receiving payment if they successfully demonstrated meaningful use and met the other program requirements. But also, as we’re moving into years where the payment adjustments take effect, we’re moving into a time where providers, if they’re not meaningful users, will receive payment adjustments. So we want to ensure that, as we move forward, everybody who is actually attesting to meaningful use is really a meaningful user so that they can avoid those adjustments moving forward. Incentives are great, but we want to make sure that people aren’t subject to those payment adjustments when they don’t have to be.

The OIG made some strong recommendations last year about how CMS should improve their oversight of EHR Incentive Payments. How are you addressing these concerns?
We’ve instituted the pre-payment audit program, after initially only doing post-payment audits. It should be noted that at the time the OIG report was initially compiled, we really were at the very beginning of our audit program. We were really just establishing the audit protocols that we use to determine what documentation to ask for, what to look for, and how we go out and talk to providers, so we really didn’t have a developed audit program at the time those recommendations were released. As we have moved forward, I think that we have been able to really figure it out. We do both random and targeted audits, and we’ve figured out the type of things that are anomalous and raise a red flag for us to start taking a look at, so that allows us to be much more robust in our oversight. And now, with the introduction in January of the pre-payment audits, we’re doing that random and targeted check of providers to look at their attestation before they actually receive payments. We think that appropriately addresses the OIG recommendations.

Click here to read more.

Important for Physicians / Clinics / and Staff!

Now is the time to get your ICD-10 transition started – with the Colorado ICD-10 Training Coalition. Please click here for more information.

ICD-10: CMS Says Implementation Date Will NOT Be Delayed!

Last week at the Annual HIMSS13 conference in New Orleans, Marilyn Tavenner, Acting CMS Administrator, confirmed that the ICD-10 implementation date of October 1, 2014 will stand!

Providers, practices, hospitals and other healthcare entities need to start their preparation and training efforts NOW!

Take the First Step Down the ICD-10 Pathway - Webinar

There is a pathway through the ICD-10 maze and it begins by engaging with physicians and staff to build an awareness of what ICD-10 is. If you haven't begun planning you must join us on Tuesday, March 19th at noon and take the first step down the path towards a successful transition!

The ICD-10 Coalition is hosting the first in a series of webinars to help physicians make a successful transition to ICD-10 in 2014. Don't be fooled by the 2014 date. A lot of work is required to navigate this maze and the March 19 webinar-Take the First Step Down the ICD-10 Pathway- will help you get off on the right foot.

If you have already registered and received a confirmation email then you are good to go! If you haven't, then act now as space is limited.

If your office is near Parker Adventist Hospital then consider joining your friends in the Pine All room to participate in the webinar as a group. Bring your lunch and take advantage of the opportunity to network and discuss ICD-10. Sign up to participate at the Parker Adventist site by clicking here to send an email to Marilyn Rissmiller. You don't have to sign up individually using the "register now" button.

Any other group that wants to set up a satellite location for the webinar series should also send Marilyn an email.

Picking Apart the PPACA (Obamacare)

Picking Apart the PPACA (Obamacare)

Patient Affordable Care Act Changes That Occurred in 2010:
Indoor tanning services were assessed a 10% excise tax.

A re-insurance program offset the costs of health benefits for workers age 55-64 who were forced into early retirement.

Medicare beneficiaries who fell into the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug "donut hole" received a $250 rebate. They received a 50% discount on brand name drugs in 2011, and the doughnut hole is eliminated in 2020.

Children were allowed to stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26.

New private plans were required to cover preventive services with no co-payments, and they are exempt from deductibles. Consumers who applied to new plans have access to an external appeals process if coverage is denied.

Insurance companies were prohibited from dropping coverage if someone got really sick. They couldn't create lifetime coverage limits. They could no longer deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. The same will apply to adults in 2014. Until then, adults with pre-existing conditions who have been denied coverage will get access to temporary health insurance coverage until the exchanges are set up. (To see how to sign up, go to Pre-Existing Conditions.)

Patient Protection Affordable Care Act Changes in 2011:

• Medicare-covered preventative services were exempted from deductibles and the co-pay was eliminated. 
• Insurance companies must prove they spent at least 80% of the premium payments on medical services, rather than on things like advertising and executive salaries. Those that didn't were required to provide rebates to policyholders. 
• States were funded to require health insurance companies to submit justification for all rate hikes. 
• Funds were expanded to increase the number of doctors and nurses, and more community health centers -- enough to double the number of patients they can treat in the next five years. 

Changes in 2013:
Medical expenses must be at least 10% of income before they are deductible for those under 65. Manufacturers and importers of medical devices will pay a 2.3% excise tax. (Click here to read more about Changes in 2013.)

Changes in 2014:
In 2014, the state-run health exchanges will be set up. Medicaid eligibility will be expanded to include those with incomes up to 133% of the Federal poverty line ($29,000 for a family of four). (Click here to read more about Changes in 2013.)

CPC Certification Preparation Course

RT Welter and Associates are offering a CPC Certification Preparation Course in Spring 2013. Click here for details. CRHC members are eligible for a discount on tuition. For more information, contact Jennifer Heuer at 303.534.0388 or jh@rtwelter.com.