GeBBS Healthcare Blog

By Nitin Thakor, GeBBS President & CEO

AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack recently sent a congratulatory letter to President-elect Donald Trump and asking him to go slowly on changes to our healthcare delivery system, particularly when it comes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is good advice since healthcare represents a significant portion of the U.S. economy and essential public services. Pollack explained his case in terms that abrupt changes could lead to significant instability for patients, providers, insurers and others.

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A recent article in US News and World Reportexplained a little known fact of which most patients are completely unaware. A trip to the emergency room could cause a secondary injury to a patient’s wallet. Even if a patient goes to a hospital included in his or her health insurance network, if the emergency room physician who treats the patient is not part of the health insurance network, the patient will be responsible for a separate and unexpected bill.

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The world did not come to an end on October 1, 2015. With the start of ICD-10, healthcare professionals anticipated an overall reduction in productivity of their billing staff. In a pre-October 1 survey, 94% of respondents indicated that they expected increased denials, but only 30% had done any work toward solving the problem. 

If you are one of these, you are suggested to begin immediately to improve your denial management processes and your ICD-10 coding. Most providers, payers, and even CMS expect there will be a noticeable increase in the coding denial ratios, which currently range between 15-20%, and may actually double. Though, by design, ICD-10 is expected to reduce the denial rates; in the short term there is bound to be reduced collections, higher denial ratios, and lower productivity.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun paying providers for delivering non-face-to-face care to their Medicare patients with two or more chronic conditions. This is a win-win for everyone involved in the process. Patients will experience improved outcomes and physicians have the opportunity to increase their revenue streams. CMS created the new CPT Code 99490 to reimburse providers for spending 20 minutes per month helping their patients manage multiple chronic conditions.

Medicare has traditionally only paid providers for care management services as part of face-to-face office visits. Now, eligible providers will be reimbursed at approximately $42 per qualified patient per month for these services. The Chronic Care Management (CCM) payment applies to both Medicare and Medicare Advantage patients.

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The 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) will pay for non-face-to-face services for CPT Code 99490 -- Chronic Care Management (CCM), reimbursing practices on an average of $42 per patient, per month. Of all the governmental mandates that have come along -- this is a good one. It incentivizes physicians to extend their care management and care coordination services to their patients who need it the most, and it will improve outcomes for critically-ill patients. 

CMS has recognized that in the U.S. seven of the top ten causes of death are from chronic illnesses, with 85 percent of healthcare costs going to treat those diseases and two-thirds of Medicare dollars being spent on patients with five or more of these chronic conditions. 

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In an article entitled: “Boeing negotiates directly with more health systems” in this morning’s Modern Healthcare e-newsletter, it was reported that airplane manufacturer Boeing Co. will soon offer more employees the option of health benefits negotiated directly with local health systems. The employer, being skilled in the art of negotiations, is bypassing the big insurance companies and negotiating directly with providers. The company first used the strategy last year in Seattle to better control healthcare costs.

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In today’s healthcare environment of shrinking reimbursements, due to governmental mandates and Medicare policy changes, the importance of maintaining a healthy revenue cycle is second only to providing the best patient care possible. Without an adequate margin there can be no medical mission.

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The introduction several years ago of the ERA (Electronic Remittance Advice) created a quantum leap in the healthcare billing arena by providing an improvement to the traditional, paper-based EOBs. Astonishingly, many providers have not taken advantage of this revolutionary change. It has been estimated that even today only 46 percent of the claims are processed electronically, while the remaining 54% claims are processed in the traditional paper-based method. However, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated that all healthcare plans adopt and support ERA operating rules before January 1, 2014. 

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