CNYHBA Blog

I’m president of a local organization that has presenters once every couple of months on the main topic of medical billing, and then side topics on management, HR issues, productivity and medical coding. The organization has been around for more than 35 years, but over time, both membership and attendance has dwindled.

It begs the question as to why it seems more people don’t avail themselves of the opportunity to not only get better and learn updated information, but also take advantage of the opportunities to network with other people that do what you do.

Many years ago when I was a director of patient accounting, I found it valuable to be able to pick up the phone and call another director or billing person to ask them how to do something, and they’d do the same type of thing. It’s always imperative to have access to knowledge you don’t possess, and it’s great when you can actually talk to a source that might be able to talk you through a process, or at least give you something else to think about.

Many of the members of CNYHBA know when certain conferences or events are coming up. Some of us even participate in some fashion, such as being presenters. We will share this type of information whenever possible, but we’d also like to know if this is something you might be interested in. After all, if it’s something that doesn’t fit your needs, then it’s something we wouldn’t want to foist upon you.

In the meantime, the next Mid York Medical Accounts Management Association meeting, which is geared towards medical billing personnel, is on February 8th at the Comfort Inn on Buckley Road in Syracuse. We don’t have a full itinerary yet, but the afternoon presenter will be one of our members, Linda Steele of Comforce, who will be giving advice on how to hire the right person for your medical billing needs. At our September meeting, Mark Gilbert of Practicare came to present on evaluating outsourcing of billing services.

Members of CNYHBA are committed to helping others learn how to do their jobs easier and more efficiently by participating in seminars such as these, and of course are always available to assist in others ways as well.
 

If you are like most managers in healthcare, you are constantly trying to balance staffing resources against patient demand.  It seems with the flucuations in our economy, patient demand for services tend to flucuate as well.  No surprise right.  However, how you staff for a flucuating demand and still maintain or improve efficiency while maintaining quality of care?

Crosstraining, Contract employees, and Flexible staff schedules comes to mind.  How is your practice dealing with todays patient demand?

Is anyone else concerned that they cannot receive an honest reference anymore? Does anyone have any ways they are getting around supervisors who have been told to only give out dates and titles?

Hospitals are once again in the market for medical groups. But unlike the free wheeling and dealing of the 90s, hospitals are now limited by Stark regs to paying fair market value. I am curious. Whether or not selling is in your plans, do you think it behooves a medical practice to know just what the practice is worth in the current market?

There’s an interesting debate going on in Illinois right now. There’s the possibility that the state, which is in great financial difficulties, might remove the not-for-profit status of all hospitals and medical facilities throughout the state that aren’t sponsored by the state, thus being allowed to tax them and generate new revenue for the state.

It’s a scary proposition, one that could have wide ranging implications for health care across the country. Often when one state tries something other states seem to follow along, even before finding out if what’s been proposed is legal or not.

New York state is lucky in a way because all hospitals are not-for-profit. However, there’s nothing saying that a state like ours, which has had major budget problems, might not have someone make a pitch for doing something similar. In Illinois, the pitch is that the money raised will go to education. Throughout our state school districts, especially the large city districts, have had massive budget cuts, and it’s hard for legislators to turn their backs on children’s issues, especially in major election years.

Not that New York state hasn’t done its share of things to grab money from hospitals anyway. The “surcharge” puts a pretty penny into their pocket, and we all know that most of the other money collected for bad debt that’s supposed to be paid back to the hospitals goes downstate. And the surcharge doesn’t care whether a hospital is in the red or the black; they want their money and that’s pretty much that.

But think about what kind of problems eliminating not-for-profit status would have in this state? The Bergan Commission already took its toll on a bunch of hospitals, and there are a number of small to mid-sized hospitals that would suffer greatly without this protection.

Then look at a hospital like Crouse in Syracuse, which is already hedging its bet against Medicare and Medicaid cuts by eliminating staff throughout the facility before anything has even happened; that is, unless there are other issues we don’t know about right now. Imagine what their situation might be if they were suddenly considered a for profit facility. For that matter St. Joseph’s would be in the same fix, because sitting right in their midst would still be not-for-profit Upstate; that would turn the tables on the competition drastically, wouldn’t it? At least the VA Hospital would be safe.

Do you have an opinion on this particular issue? Luckily, it’s not an issue in New York yet. But if Illinois actually gets this passed, do you think hospitals in our state would remain safe?
 

Whether you call it EHR or EMR, the federal government wants all providers to go that route. They’re under the impression that it’s patient friendly while also insuring that records can be read by whomever needs to read them no matter where they happen to be. CMS’s official position on the subject comes down to [...]

Mark Gilbert of Practicare Medical Management Inc and a member of the Central New York Healthcare Business Alliance, is presenting at the next meeting of the Mid York Medical Accounts Management Association. His topic will be “The Process of Outsourcing Cash Acceleration”. Mr. Gilbert is the afternoon presenter. In the morning portion will be a [...]

The Federal Health Care plan that was passed last year is starting to gear itself up for its implementation in 2014. It seems the first step will be to help educate, train, and consult with hospitals on how they can eliminate waste, control expenses, and address certain medical issues that seem prevalent among many hospitals [...]

Hello- Due to the delay in receiving amendments back from contractors we will not be starting Candidate Direct Marketplace on 8/1/11. The amendments need to get approved at the Office of the State Comptroller before we can use this site. We hope to be able to use the site within a couple of weeks. If [...]

I keep reading all these stories on physicians and their fear of technology. There have been interesting quotes from some of them against electronic medical records (EMR), social media and the like. Seattle Municipal Archives I hate to be the one to burst the bubble but these things and more are not only the present [...]