Note from the speaker: Understanding patient population

Friday, September 28, 2018
By Becky Cook, CPA, MHA
 
NAHRI’s 2018 Revenue Integrity Symposium is coming up! The Revenue Integrity Symposium (RIS) will be held October 16–17 at the Wigwam Resort outside Phoenix, Arizona. There are several accompanying pre- and post-conference events for a week-long event of education and networking opportunities. 
 
I'm Becky Cook, and my passion is working with improving care for patients and making it easier for employees to contribute to patient care. I’m really looking forward to attending and presenting at this year’s RIS. This conference is a great opportunity to get practical information and education we can use to improve patient care at our facilities.
 
The changes in healthcare happening right now are toward more data and use of risk factors and analytics to manage populations. Coding accuracy and integrity is the foundation of creating patient and population descriptors. Whether organizations are “at risk” financially in contracts or just beginning the journey, the ability to understand the patient population is critical to success. The topics I will be speaking on include an introduction to how risk factors are calculated and, more importantly, how to use the data to manage the contract financial results.  
 
My session will be on day 2, October 17, 11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m., titled “Basics of Hierarchical Condition Coding and Value-Based Contracting,” which covers the following:
  • Using risk factor scoring in financial management is a new skill needed to thrive with shared savings, Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid, ACO contracts and other value-based payment methods. Learn how risk scoring may be used to stratify patient populations, project cost of care for those patient populations and manage the reimbursements required to care for your patients. Examples using risk scoring in contracting decisions, operational decisions, benchmarking and communications with physician leadership will be presented.
 
See you in October!
 
Editor’s note: Cook is a healthcare financial leader with extensive experience with employed and independent physician networks. Competencies include basics of practice management, billing and revenue cycle management, revenue strategies, physician compensation plan development and implementation, data analytics design and management, and managed care contracting including gain-sharing and other risk arrangements.
 
For additional information, listen to a recording of our Revenue Integrity Symposium Demo and view the corresponding slides. Revenue integrity professionals wishing to earn support from program administrators to attend the 2018 Revenue Integrity Symposium may adapt our justification letter proposal.
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Revenue Integrity