GroupOne Blog

As the HIPAA compliance audit program draws near, healthcare organizations must take five steps to prepare, compliance specialist Bob Chaput urges.

We at GroupOne can appreciate what a daunting task it can be to compare all the various electronic medical records (EMR) systems currently available in the marketplace. An “apples to apples” comparison of features and usability can be difficult and costly if the EMR system selected does not meet the unique needs of your specific practice. Many of our customers ultimately choose GroupOne and eClinicalWorks because eClinicalworks is built in ONE unified application, ONE database.

January 17, 2012 National Provider Call with Question & Answer Session on 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program; 1:30 - 3:00pm ET.

1. 5010 Compliance Deadline Jan 1, 2012

2. Free iPad 2 promotion thru 12/31/2011

3. Tax Savings from Section 179 by 12/31/2011

4. Def financing on license fees by 12/31/2011

5. $44,000 - $63,750 stimulus payment

6. No down payment required with GroupOne

7. Become a Modern and Paper Free Practice in 2012 – New Year’s Resolution

1. 5010 Compliance Deadline Jan 1, 2012

Any electronic claims or bills which are electronically submitted after Jan 1, 2012, that are not in HIPAA 5010 will get rejected.

A panel of ICD-10 experts spoke last week at a conference co-hosted by the New England Health Information and Management Systems Society and Maine Healthcare Financial Management Association in South Portland, Maine, giving advice about the five ‘gotchas’ that can wreak havoc on the best-laid plans for implementing the new coding system.

Janet Sayers, HIM/compliance manager at Applied Management Systems, Andrew Adams, senior manager at Ernst & Young and Dan Roy, ICD-10 project manager at MaineGeneral Health warned against these five potential pitfalls:

"It's not a good idea to get too comfortable with the extension," according to industry experts.

Even with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) recently announced 90-day discretionary enforcement period (March 21 versus Jan. 1) for physicians to transition to HIPAA Version 5010 for claims transmission, physician practices must stay on task, making a "good faith effort" toward on-time compliance.

According to a report released by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, almost every state is cutting costs related to Medicaid.  Many states are implementing cost-cutting initiatives, such as restricting Medicaid benefits, implementing new and higher copayments for beneficiaries, and/or enacting provider rate restrictions. In fact, since July 1, 2010, 22 states have already slashed physician pay rates.

All physicians, health care providers, clearinghouses, and payers that submit medical claims and HIPAA transactions will be required to use only the 5010 format as of January 1, 2012.  Noncompliance will mean interruptions in cash flow. 

By:  Justine Cadet

CMS is Holding a Second Webinar on the CQMs and the EHR Incentive Programs for Small-Practice Providers

Overview