Note from the director: NAHRI Virtual Event wrap-up
NAHRI’s three-day virtual educational and networking event, Revenue Integrity and Reimbursement Strategies: A NAHRI Virtual Event, wrapped up last week and offered helpful tips for revenue integrity professionals looking to expand their knowledge base and professional circle. If you missed us live, don’t worry. You can gain access to the on-demand version of the event for 60 days so you can catch up on the latest revenue integrity trends.
Day one kicked off with a special edition of The Revenue Integrity Show: A NAHRI Podcast featuring a panel of NAHRI Advisory Board members who shared their thoughts on the operational impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “I like to now say that relationships are just as important as resources when it comes to revenue integrity,” said Valerie Rinkle, MPH, CHRI, instructor for HCPro in Middleton, Massachusetts. “It is critical to constantly think about continuing to build and feed, if you will, the relationships that you have with your staff, with managers, whatever, during working remotely and during the public health emergency.”
As the day went on, participants were treated to a two-part breakdown of the annual OPPS, IPPS, and MPFS rules, as well as a session on appealability and a virtual gala where members of the NAHRI Conference Committee offered guidance on virtual hiring and engagement. Jodi L. Stewart, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CHRI, recommended having a virtual open-door policy and taking advantage of instant messaging to keep the lines of communication open. “We do have routine meetings on Mondays and Wednesdays where we kind of huddle and we bring everybody together,” said Stewart. “I also have one-on-one calls with all of my staff individually, routinely—they can reach out to me at any time—but they know they’re going to have that dedicated time.”
On day two, attendees learned about price transparency, chargemaster best practices, key performance indicators, and changes to inpatient-only procedure guidelines. Attendees took advantage of the event’s chat features to discuss vendor selection and miscellaneous charges during the session CDM Governance: Best Practices and Processes. “Make sure your chargemaster is as up to date as possible, especially before the whole price transparency thing,” said Sarah L. Goodman, MBA, CHCAF, COC, CHRI, CCP, FCS, president and CEO of SLG, Inc., in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Look at reimbursement methodologies and your NCCI edits … because they help you in structing the CDM and making sure that you have things set up correctly—covered versus noncovered, whether a modifier might be needed down the line.”
Our final day together included an analysis of the requirements to make standard charges public, a look at charge capture hot spots, tips on structuring commercial payer integrity audits, and guidance on the role of revenue integrity in revenue cycle analytics. During his session on publishing standard charges, Marc Hartstein, principal for Health Policy Alternatives, addressed speculation about whether CMS could delay reporting due to the pandemic. While Section 1135 of the Social Security Act permits “delaying timetables for performance of required activities, except that such deadlines and timetables may only be modified, not waived,” CMS has during its bi-weekly office hours calls repeatedly declined to delay the January 1, 2021, deadline for publishing price transparency information. “Where CMS is interested in reducing burden for regulations that it has no particular interest in—this administration is willing to do that—for the price transparency regulation, which it is very much interested in seeing posted and complied with, CMS is not delaying requirements even though they’re extremely burdensome on hospitals,” said Hartstein.
Registrants who joined us live or those who purchase the on-demand version of A NAHRI Virtual Event will have access to all session recordings for 60 days. You can register for the on-demand version for just $179 to hear more from our expert speakers.
We look forward to learning and networking with you all again soon!