GroupOne Revenue Cycle Blog 

On Tuesday, CMS issued a proposed rule that would make changes in the second year of the Quality Payment Program. The proposed rule includes changes that would not only simplify the program, but also ensure high-quality care within Medicare is at the forefront of the Quality Payment Programs. Here's what you need to know about the proposed rule for the 2018 performance period.

CMS will issue new Medicare cards starting in April 2018 with a new unique, randomly-assigned number called a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) to replace the existing Social Security-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) both on the cards and in various CMS systems we use now. However, both the MBIs on the new cards and the Social Security­ based HICNs that exist on the cards today, can be used. Here's what you need to know to start preparing your practice for new Medicare cards.

Gathering online reviews hasn't always been a priority for healthcare providers and clinics, but in today's cyber-connected world, you can't afford to miss what patients are saying about your practice online. When it comes to medical practice or even physician online reputation management, there are ten main review sites you should be monitoring and using to collect reviews from patients.

Unhappy staff at your practice? Now, more than ever, having happier and more engaged employees is crucial to your practice's success. The shift to value-based care is placing a new kind of importance on patient satisfaction and with the reputational effects coming with the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, practices can't afford to ignore patient experience and satisfaction. 

Still wondering if you need to participate in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System? You're not alone. The transition from Meaningful Use, PQRS, and VBM programs all seemed to happen rather quickly and the MIPS scoring methodology has a number of healthcare professionals wondering if participating is even worth the headache. Fortunately, CMS announced that the official Quality Payment Program participation letters will be sent to eligible clinicians in late April through May to inform clinicians if they are required to participate.

If your medical billing service is losing your practice revenue, you should be looking into switching your billing services provider. You know that once you find a new service and start fixing some of the errors from your current billing service, your revenue will soar. But how do you go about switching from your existing billing service to a new billing service without losing even more revenue?

Today the average practice has up to 35% of their revenue coming from patient pay but 81% of self-pay revenues go uncollected. It's no wonder that practices today are turning to credit card on file programs to solve the challenges of patient pay collections. 

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) and the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy at the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) introduced Connected Care, an educational initiative to raise awareness of the benefits of chronic care management (CCM) services for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions and to provide health care professionals with support to implement CCM programs.

Not able to attend the HIMSS conference this year? No worries. We've put together a list of some highlights from the conference and some newly posted resources from CMS that provide even more information on one of the many hot topics this year at HIMSS, the Merit-based Incentive Payment System.

While it's estimated that practices in the U.S. lose $125 billion each year due to poor medical billing operations, the challenges of practice management expand far beyond revenue cycle management. Here, we'll discuss the top 5 practice management challenges and provide resources and solutions that can assist in overcoming them.

Patient payments are a vital part of revenue cycle management, but when patients fail to take financial responsibility, doctors and their practices take a hard hit. In fact, according to a report from the American Hospital Association —  since 2000 —  U.S. hospitals have provided more than $502 billion in uncompensated care expenses. More patients are paying higher out-of-pocket costs for medical care expenses than ever before. Here are top ways your practice can increase patient payments that boost your practice's revenue.

Are you eligible for MIPS? With 2017 being the first performance year, it's imperative that you know how the Merit-based Incentive Payment System could affect your revenue cycle management.  We put together a cheat sheet to help you understand your participation options with MIPS in 2017 and the financial impact it could have on your revenue cycle in the coming years.

CMS has extended the attestation deadline for providers participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program to Monday, March 13, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. PT. As a quick reminder, if you received a letter from CMS that said you are subject to the 2017 Medicare EHR payment adjustment and you believe this payment adjustment is in error, you must submit a reconsideration application for the 2017 payment adjustment by February 28, 2017. Here are more details and resources on both of these upcoming deadlines.

With all the recent turbulence in healthcare surrounding Meaningful Use, ICD-10 and now the transition to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, HIPAA has flown under the radar, in a sense, for some practices. However, in 2017 it's important that practices make HIPAA compliance a priority. Here are five things we covered in a recent webinar on what all practices should focus on in regards to HIPAA compliance in 2017.