The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announces the release of the notices of proposed rule-making (NPRMs) for Stage 2 of meaningful use and updated certification criteria. To read more about the NPRMs for stage 2 please visit:
http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/meaningful-use-stage-2
This seems to be a sore subject during training on how to figure out the Pack Year (PY) for the Smoking Status. Most offices have never even heard of the Pack Year. A pack year gives you a value that is defined as the number of cigarettes smoked everyday for one year. It’s not difficult so here is how to figure it out:
John Doe has smoked 1 pack (20 cigarettes) per day for 10 years. Multiply 1 x 10 to get the PY of 10. If he only smoked half a pack (10 cigarettes) per day for 10 years. Multiply .50 (represents half a pack) x 10 = 5 PY
It’s just that easy, multiply the number of packs per day by the years smoked.
There is also a Smoking Pack Year Calculator that makes it even easier for you at www.smokingpackyears.com that you can add to your favorites and refer to as well.
Hello, in this post I am going to explain how to properly setup patient education so that the instructions will show up under Patient Education and count toward meaningful use.
First, go to Misc->Edit Patient Instructions. Here is where you will enter the instructions that you want to print for the patients. You will not be able to attach PDF’s or any type of image. This instructions must be typed manually.
Once you type the instructions, go back to Misc, then select ‘Match ICD to Instructions’. This is where you will match the ICD codes to the instructions you just typed. The purpose of this is so that EMN will display only the instructions for a particular patient that fits the criteria you select here. For example, let’s say you setup the instructions, ‘Ways to Relieve Stress’. You then match ‘Ways to Relieve Stress’ to the ICD code of hypertension. Now, go into any patient’s chart that has the ICD code of Hypertension listed in their Active Problem List. Because it matches, if you go to Nurses->Patient Education, you will see ‘Ways To Relieve Stress’ here. On the other hand, if you go into a patient’s chart that does not have the ICD code for hypertension, then ‘Ways to Relieve Stress’ will not show up for that patient. Once you print the instructions, it will count toward meaningful use.
It is very important to properly setup the criteria for which this instructions will appear. If no criteria is setup, then the instructions that you spent time creating will not show up for any patient.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to give me a call. I will be more than happy to go over this. Thank You.
Physicians should note that the agency did not rescind the Jan. 1, 2012, compliance deadline, and CMS is urging physicians to take advantage of the additional three months this latest delay provides to “complete outstanding implementation activities, including software installation, testing and training.”
The 5010 version of the transaction standards, which replaces the 4010/4010A standards, was mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is the second time CMS has delayed enforcement of the standards. In mid-December, the agency announced it would not initiate enforcement action until March 31, but it decided physicians and others need more time to prepare.
According to CMS, health plans, clearinghouses, software vendors, and physicians and other health care professionals are making “steady progress” with the transition to the 5010 standards.
In fact, according to CMS, its Medicare fee-for-service program reports that currently, more than 70 percent of all Part A claims — and more than 90 percent of Part B claims — are being successfully received and processed in the 5010 version format.
The OESS predicts a 98 percent compliance rate across the entire health care industry by the June 30 deadline.
In the meantime, Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) intend to continue their close collaboration with clearinghouses, billing vendors and physicians in the event any of those players needs assistance with submitting and receiving electronic transactions that are 5010 compliant.
Physicians and others who need help from a MAC and who are having difficulty getting in touch with one, can e-mail a message to CMS. Put “5010 Extension” in the subject line, and then explain the problem.
Hello, this update consists of new features, updates & bug fixes. Please read through the change log and let us know if you have any questions.
New Features:
1. In the documentation (chart) screen, a link called ‘Show History Form’ was added to the top to open the patient’s ‘PMH, Allergies, Meds Info’ box. If you click on ‘Show History Form’ the patient’s history form will open and you will be able to edit it. Once you are done editing it, click on ‘Hide History Form’ and it will update the chart you are working on with the changes you have made to the patient’s history.
2. A ‘Working On’ flag was added to the list of nurse orders that shows up on every page. If a user clicks on the nurse order, it will now show the username of the user that clicked on it, the color will change from red to green & the words ‘Working On’ will show as well. This will indicate that someone is working on that nurse order & it will show which user it is.
3. On ‘Today’s Patients’, we have added a new ‘Discharged’ option to the room number dropdown. When ‘Discharged’ is selected, the room number will change to ‘D’. This is just to signify that the patient has been discharged. Also, clicking on ‘Patient Discharged’ in the patient’s chart will change the room number to D on ‘Today’s Patients’.
4. We have added an indicator called ‘Pt Portal’ to the patient demographics area. If a patient has a username/password created for the patient portal, then their username will appear in this field. If they do not, then it will be blank. This was created to indicate whether or not a patient was setup for the patient portal.
5. A new drop down was added to the Surgery Boarding form. The new drop down is called ‘Heading’ and it appears at the top. The purpose of this drop down is to change the heading that appears on the Surgery Boarding form that gets printed or faxed. For example, if you faxed one over earlier and want to cancel it, just the change the heading to cancellation and re-fax the form over.
Updates:
1. A ‘casetype’ search criteria was added to the reports that report about cases, so the user can narrow the results down in the report to just those types of case types.
2. In the vaccines report, a VFC search criteria was added. Also, the ability to sort by vaccine name, lot number and Date Given in addition to patient info was added to this report.
3. In the top right search bar, the option to search by Zip Code has been added.
4. A ‘country’ drop down option was added to the patient info screen, guarantor and to the subscriber screen. This is mainly for billing reasons. The only options are USA and Canada. If any of our client’s needs other countries added to this list, please let us know.
5. In the claim screen, in the CPT list on the top right, the modifier and the fee fields are no longer editable from the claim screen. Apparently editing those fields from here may cause some inconsistencies in special situations. If you need to edit these fields, click on edit superbills and make the edits on the superbill. Once done, click on “Submit the superbill” otherwise the changes will not get saved.
6. When searching for patients in the top right search bar, if the patient is not marked as active, then the links to script, note, filing etc… will not show up to avoid errors.
Bug Fixes:
1. When creating a case, if the primary insurance is not filled out correctly, the case will no longer be created until everything is filled out correctly.
2. Other misc bug fixes.
Hello, over the past few months we been receiving more and more calls about whether or not EMN will accept Canadian addresses. Yes, EMN will accept Canadian addresses as long as the Zip Code is formatted correctly. For example, the Zip Code should be entered as XYZ XYZ and not as XYZXYZ. Without the digits being separated, EMN will give you an error stating that the address is incorrect.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank You.
Hello, some of our clients are still using the old script writer. Within the next 3 weeks we are going to be deleting the old script writer from the EMN. For our clients that are still using the old script writer, please give us a call so that we can move you over to the new e-prescribing script writer. If you can e-prescribe, then you have the new script writer and no further action is needed on your part. This only applies to our clients that are still using the old script writer that does not have e-prescribe capability. Thank You.
We have been having several calls on errors from Cofinity Health Insurance.
Cofinity is 5010 ready but they have been having some errors with Entity Code errors such as; Tax ID numbers and NPI numbers. They suggested that you contact them directly with these errors.
Cofinity direct line: 1-800-831-1166
Follow the prompts but anyone can assist you.
Hope this is helpful!
With the change in format for electronic claims from 4010 to 5010, following up claims have been dependent on Loops & Segments. You may wonder how this effects your claims. Well, contrary to belief you do not need to be an expert on these. However, knowing what to look for is key to understanding your rejections this year and for subsequent years. The first thing you need to know is how all of these things relate. The easiest way to understanding this is knowing that your 4010/5010 act in the same manner as a 1500 form. However, the biggest difference is this is not one claim for each patient and it is electronically submitted. Therefore, imagine one large 1500 form with all of your patients batched together on it. Now, instead of Line items on this large claim there are Loops & Segments. This is your electronic claim form or 4010/5010 format. Now that we know this, we need to understand which Line Items correspond to certain Loops and Segments. Therefore, we will need to refer to the 1500 to 5010 Crosswalk chart. This chart converts the Line Item to the corresponding Loop & Segment. For instance, if your claim is rejecting for incorrect/missing information in Loop 2400 Segment SV104 you can refer to the crosswalk, which will point out that this is actually Line Item 24G (Days or Units) on the 1500 form. Once you know that, you can find it in your software and fix the problem. If you would like a copy of the 1500 Crosswalk, please visit the Wisconsin Physician Service Corporate site at:
1. http://www.wpsmedicare.com/
2. Click Legacy part B for Michigan
3. Scroll down and choose 5010 (underneath the customer service numbers)
4. Under the 5010 Readiness tab Scroll down to the bottom of the page and on your right click Medicare B 1500 to 5010 Crosswalk (or you can run a search for it).
Now, you can reference this Crosswalk chart when talking with your Clearinghouse/Vendors to better understand the rejections and error messages. If you have any questions, please refer to the numbers below.
Clearinghouse: BCBS EDI 1-800-542-0945 option 1
Vendor: Emedicalnotes 810-720-2900 option 5
In continuation of an earlier post, we would like to reiterate that having a patients account status displayed on the front of the chart for the front desk is very helpful. The front office staff are not always aware of a patients account status. We have implemented new account status categories to make the process even easier for Billing and Front office staff. If you would like to change a patients account status in Emedicalnotes. Here are the correct steps in which to do so:
1. Starting off in the front of the patients chart, from the demographics page-click the words “patient balance” underneath the patients picture.
2. You should now be in the posting screen. From the posting screen in the rectangular Balances box-click the drop down menu titled “Regular Statements”.
3. Now you can pick from the following categories in the drop down.
Please keep in mind that all of the choices, in exception for “Regular Statements” will NOT get a statement if chosen. However, it will mark the front of the chart underneath the patients picture with its respective category. The categories are as follows:
1. Regular Statements (a patient statement will print)
2. Collections, no st (No Statement)
3. VIP, no st (No Statement)
4. Pending, no st (No Statement)
5. Temporarily Away, no st (No Statement)
6. Bad Address, no st (No Statement)
7. Old Balances, no st (No Statement)
8. In-House Collections, no st (No Statement)
If you have any questions on this feature, please let us know. Thank You.
