Genius Focus Group- Mt. Pleasant

Yeah, we had our first Focus Group meeting yesterday.  Sherri and I (aka me, Penny, Genius blogster) were out in Mt. Pleasant yesterday.  We would like to give a shout out to everyone who came out the Mt.Pleasant Focus Group yesterday.  It was a great group, with a very relaxed atmosphere at the golf resort; they made us feel very welcome and very comfortable.  We hope we did the same for them. 

Medicare Pay Cuts Extension Through December 1st 2010

HR 4213 finally bombed out of the Senate late Thursday (6/24) after a couple of attempts to dump chunks of the overstuffed bill failed to get the significant passing votes to pass (57-41 yea, but they needed 60 Senate votes to pass).  There will be many jobless Americans wondering what will happen to them now (although a stripped down version with just the jobless extensions has been relabeled for just itself and it back on the docket.  No significant action seems to be expected on it until the House and the Senate both return from the 4th of July holiday.)  It failed to pass the additional Medicaid aide for states, dumped Cobra help extensions, etc.  Not only was the cost of this jumbo bill very high, but it was promoting a significant tax increase.  So, it being busted is not necessarily a bad thing, now maybe they will weigh each portion separately for cost and merit as should have been done from the beginning.

What does this mean for Doctors and your Medicare cut? 

Important: Your Medicare Payments

Beginning today, you may start to see Medicare checks in your mailbox.  These will be payments that Medicare had been holding off on processing, hoping that Washington D.C. would pass the next reprieve for the Medicare pay cut.  The month-to-month wait was finally going into a 19 month reprieve, but the resolution to do it, H.R.4213, is currently stalled in debate on the Senate floor.  Again, the problem isn't giving you doctors a break on the pay cut, the problem is that your pay cut is tied in with an extension on jobless benefits, Medicaid, and a bunch of other stuff.  Stuff that would best be served on individual bills, rather than as one mega-conglomerate bill.

June News Flash!: The Summer of E-Statement Love

As we boldly move forward into the future with you, we are in the process of combining our production facilities into one.  Click here for more of the June 2010 e-mail News Flash.

Update your THOMAS, d and e

If you aren’t up-to-date, don’t wait, update! If you are an active, current Genius client office, the update is FREE; there is no charge for updates to the program if you are a current SoftCare subscriber.  Here is more on the "whys" and "how to-s".

On the Dockets/Chopping Block Again:Medicare Pay Cut

The Medicare physician pay cut exists as part of the of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which says that the Medicare payment dollars paid out to doctors will be cut automatically when the cost out paces inflation. These automatic cuts have been delayed repeatedly by Congress since 2003, which is why there is such a large pay cut currently being faced by doctors.  For physicians, if passed, H.R.4213 would extend the currently scheduled 21.2% cut in Medicare reimbursement until January 2012.  This would eliminate the current month-to-month wonder of what, if any, payment they are going to receive from Medicare for 19 months.

EHR: Plan the Implement, Implement the Plan.

Promoting Use of Health IT: Why Be a Meaningful User? I read a great article, succinct, to the point, and extremely thought worthy. I can't really say it any better, so I'm recommending that you take a minute to look it over, go ahead, it's from Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and his article is posted over at the government's HHS-HIT web site: Click here for the Blumenthal article. After that, come back here for some suggestions on how you can begin your journey into the wild lands of Meaningful Use.  Click here for suggestions on what you can do to prepare for EHR in your office.

Michigan BCBSM edits: NewsFlash

Attention Michigan Clients:

Per BCBSM please be aware of the following claim edits:

"Date: 05/12/10     End date: 05/26/10
To: Professional and Institutional electronic submitters
Subject: UPDATE Blue Care Network claims - edit codes P407 and F224

Earlier today we communicated an issue with BCN front-end edits P407 and F224.  We have determined that claims sent between 6:00 AM on 5/11/10 and 10:00 AM on 5/12/10 were erroneously edited.  Please do not resubmit, as these edited claims are being re-cycled back into the processing system.  All claims should be reprocessed by Friday, 5/16/10. "

eT v9.1 You've been Asking; We Deliver!

We know that many of you have been waiting for v9.1, now it is here.  New bells, whistles, and even niftier, make your life easier tools.

We strongly recommend that you update eTHOMAS now to enjoy not only the new features that have been added, but to make sure that you have the most current healthcare reform changes as well.

dTHOMAS clients: AutoUpdate now!

We strongly recommend that you update your dTHOMAS systems now, so that you will be on the most current version of the program.  This will keep you in step with the current changes in the healthcare and billing arenas that may affect your office and your billing.

Also know that we will be personally contacting you to invite you to update THOMAS as well as to discuss your current plans and hopes for EHR in your office.  We look forward to speaking with you soon.

Happy Earth Day, How Paperless are you?

We're not saying we have the answers to everything, although we do have quite a few, especially if you want to go paperless.  Going paperless isn't just for the environment (although I am a tree lover-tree hugging leaves scratches), it really is for the efficiency of your office. 

Let's list some of the ways going more paperless can help you:

Medicare Physician Pay Cuts Get Another One Month Reprieve

Medicare Physician pay cuts get another one month reprieve (well plus a little, since April was almost over anyways).  The pay cuts have been delayed until May 31st and your current pay scale is still in place until then.