Audio Conferences

HIPAA Form 5010 Implementation: Real-World Solutions to Ease the Transition from 4010 to 5010 and Avoid Reimbursement Delays

Every clinical lab is about to learn whether the transition to form 5010-required as of January 1, 2012-will be handled flawlessly by payers or not.

Ideally, clean claims should mean that payers send timely remittances to your lab. But things are less than perfect. Certain payers have already admitted that they weren’t 100% ready for form 5010 implementation on January 1. And in the days since, other payers have struggled to process claims in a timely fashion. Even your own lab’s billing and collections department probably already has stories to tell about unexpected payer glitches.

Join THE DARK REPORT and DarkDaily.com and listen as two nationally prominent experts on billing and collections give you up-to-the-minute news and intelligence about the successes and setbacks payers are having with form 5010 implementation.

How Proposed Code-Stack Changes Will Impact Palmetto GBA’s Handling of Molecular Diagnostic Tests and LDTs

Preparing your lab for March 1, 2012 when proposed changes
take effect for code-stacked claims in Medicare’s J1 region

Is the era of code stacking about to end? The clock is certainly ticking for molecular diagnostic tests. Effective March 1, 2012, one of Medicare’s larger carriers is proposing new processes that will affect claims for molecular diagnostic tests (MDT) and laboratory-developed tests (LDT).

This milestone development has the potential to affect every laboratory that uses code stacks when submitting claims for MDTs and LDTs. In recent weeks, Palmetto GBA has published two proposed local-coverage determinations (LCD) that would change how code stacks are used for MDTs and LDTs, starting in the J1 region.

Washington Puts Lab-Test Cost-Cutting on the Table for 2012: Devastating Fee Cuts Plus Other Congressional Proposals and How Your Lab Can Prevent Them

Positioning your lab to provide critical value-added services in the new healthcare environment

Everything your lab fears about congressional action to reinstitute patient co-insurance for Medicare lab testing may come true during 2012. And that’s not the worst of it. You’ll hear about the “big-three” threats to lab-test reimbursement winding their way through Congress:

• Why reinstatement of the 20% Medicare patient lab-test co-pay/co-insurance requirement could pass in this Congress.

• MedPAC’s recommendation, made last month, that Congress hack $11 billion out of lab-testing funding over the next 10 years. Where will that money go? To boost primary-care physician payment levels.

• How the 12-member, bipartisan congressional super committee created by last summer’s debt-limit legislation is making its own plans to cut lab-test reimbursement-without public hearings. Their lab-specific proposals would produce up to $24 billion in savings over the next decade.

Meaningful Use: Phase 1 Lessons Learned and How to Prepare Your Lab for Phase 2 Requirements

Integration strategies and steps to help
increase your lab’s client base

With Meaningful Use phase 2 criteria about to become effective, the nation’s clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups will soon be tasked by office-based physicians to help them use EMRs to qualify for federal incentive payments.

This second tidal wave of EMR adoption by office-based physicians is both a problem and an opportunity for clinical laboratories and pathology groups. It is a problem because many labs continue to be overwhelmed by physician requests to help them implement EMRs and qualify for phase 1 criteria.

Achieving Financial Success with Hospital Laboratory Outreach: Six Proven Ways to Boost Net Revenue

How to dramatically increase clean claim
submissions and reduce bad debt

There are simple and highly effective strategies your laboratory outreach billing and collections department can quickly implement to:

• Produce more clean claims that are paid on first submission.

• Collect surprisingly large amounts of bad debt.

• Generate substantial increases in net revenue and cash flow.

You know what increased revenue and cash flow could mean to both your laboratory outreach program and your parent hospital: It lets you offset years of declining inpatient testing and reduced reimbursement for many lab tests. More important, it helps ensure the financial sustainability of your laboratory outreach program.

Prepare Your Lab for a Medicare RAC Audit: Essential Do’s and Don’ts to Reduce Compliance Risk and Avoid Penalties

Pre-emptive steps to avoid fines,
over-payments and even jail time

Recovery Audit Contractors Program (RAC) is the new Medicare program that sends independent auditors to provider facilities, including clinical labs and pathology groups. These auditors are out to recover an estimated $24 billion a year resulting from abuse, fraud, and reimbursement problems that have plagued the system for years. How ready is your lab is for a RAC audit? Probably not very, which leaves you vulnerable when the first letter arrives from an auditor. That’s because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have designated four independent companies to conduct RAC audits, and they’ll have surprising powers to view your source documentation.  So what steps can you take now to prepare your lab for a RAC audit? What are your rights during an audit? And how can you effectively challenge and appeal the results of a RAC audit?

ACOs and Medical Homes: Preparing Your Lab for Dramatic Changes in How Physicians Use Clinical Laboratories

Positioning your lab to provide critical value-added
services in the new healthcare environment

Less than seven months from today, the federal Medicare program begins contracting with Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), leaving clinical laboratories and pathology groups with precious little time to craft an intelligent strategy for serving this new model of integrated patient care.  But ACOs are not the only new challenge ahead for the lab testing industry. Medical Homes are another equally credible way to deliver integrated patient care. In recent years, this model has caught fire with both providers and payers as early Medical Home efforts delivered surprisingly impressive improvements in patient outcomes.

Anticipating the Disruption from HIPAA 5010 Forms and
ICD-10: Essential Action Steps to Maintain
Your Lab’s Cash Flow

How to stay ahead of the biggest changes to claims submission
and reimbursement processes in the past 20 years

Attention all labs: There’s a major deadline looming. Conversion to HIPAA 5010, the new form for electronic healthcare transactions, must be completed by January 1, 2012. That’s less than eight months from today.  This revised form accommodates the new ICD-10 codes, which represent an even bigger change in how your lab submits claims and which take effect in 2013.  Form 5010 must be in place, fully tested and ready to go, before ICD-10 codes can be implemented. No small feat, given the scope of the changes to come. And if you think your laboratory has plenty of time to prepare, think again.

Managing Multiple Generations in Your Lab:
Proven Methods to Motivate Gen X, Gen Y, and Baby Boomers in the Same Workplace

How to build teamwork, boost productivity, and enhance harmony in your lab’s multi-generational workforce

In today’s modern laboratory, four different generations of employees now work side by side. But that doesn’t mean your lab is a harmonious or productive place to work. Workplace relations can sometimes become volatile when, for example, a 22-year-old Gen-Xer fresh out of college ends up working alongside a highly experienced 64-year-old baby-boomer medical technologist.

Negotiating RFPs: How to Get the Best Value for Your Laboratory

Using RFPs to find the right suppliers at the right price

While everyone is still debating the proposed new healthcare reforms, one thing is clear: The discussion has created an increased focus on the price of healthcare. As a result, hospitals, laboratories and other institutions are taking a long hard look at where they can reduce costs and get the best value for their money.   One way that hospitals and laboratories are reducing costs is by negotiating the best possible deals with their suppliers. In the past, it was easy (and certainly less time consuming) to become complacent with suppliers and the terms you may have agreed to a very long time ago. But times have changed.

Managed-Care Contracting: How to Ensure the New Healthcare Reforms Won’t Lower Your Lab’s Health Plan Reimbursements

Assuring Your Lab’s Inclusion in Today’s
Changing Healthcare Environment

The current healthcare reform bill mandates changes to some health plan business practices that will result in increased operating costs. As a result, health plans will have to reduce costs if they want to maintain their operating margins.   In this scenario, it’s often laboratory services that end up on the chopping block. Historically, health plans have tried to lower costs by reducing what they pay labs for the services they provide to health-plan members. But these days, given the competitive price structure for most lab networks, there’s little to be saved by implementing this type of price reduction. So health plans will need to implement some kind of utilization control, especially for high cost, molecular testing.

The A-to-Z of ISO 15189: How to Boost Your Lab’s Clinical and Financial Performance

Helping your lab meet tough international standards for technical quality and competence in medical laboratory testing

In the United States, interest in “ISO 15189: Medical Laboratories” is growing fast. Some of the nation’s most innovative clinical laboratory organizations are already accredited to ISO 15189 and report exciting benefits from this achievement.  The list of ISO 15189-accredited labs in the United States is impressive, ranging from health-system labs like Avera McKennan Laboratories to large commercial laboratories such as Laboratory Corporation of America (its Tampa, Florida lab division). Large or small, leaders from these labs are enthusiastic about the gains from ISO 15189 accreditation.

Achieving Best Practices in Laboratory Operations and Workflow: How to Sustain Lean and Tear Down Silos in Your Lab

The best and worst of Lean projects that will help your lab attain world-class performance

Every clinical lab and pathology group in the United States is under pressure to reduce costs and increase profits—despite specimen volume increases and reimbursement declines. One proven response to these trends is to implement process-improvement methods. And Lean is the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to help labs realize substantial gains.  When done properly, Lean projects can unlock major operational improvements. Even a one-week kaizen improvement event can help labs achieve reductions in turnaround times as much as 10% to 30%-while also trimming expenses by comparable amounts.  Every hospital laboratory and pathology group should consider regular use of Lean, Six Sigma, and similar rapid process-improvement projects, as a way to improve the quality of laboratory-testing services while delivering cost reductions to the parent hospital.

How to Solve Your Lab’s Med-Tech Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Problems Now

Proven methods for achieving 100% of authorized staff in your lab, plus unlocking the power of social networking to attract top med-tech talent

You may be surprised to learn that many hospital laboratories in the U.S. are struggling to attract adequate numbers of medical technologists (MTs) and clinical laboratory scientists (CLSs) simply because their advertising and staff-recruitment programs fail to reach their prospect pool! Gen X and Gen Y med techs don’t see most help-wanted ads because they’re using web-based sources to look for a job.

According to Peggy McKee, a national recruiter of med techs and other healthcare professionals, nearly all hospital labs fail to achieve desired staffing levels because they look for new hires in all the wrong places.

How to Stay Legal in 2011: New Legal Issues and Regulatory Changes Affecting Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Tips and tactics for keeping your laboratory fully compliant with new federal and state requirements

Lawmakers, regulators, and judges have been busy in 2010. New laws, amended regulatory requirements, and recent court decisions present clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups with new responsibilities-along with increased legal and compliance risk.

During the information-packed session you, your lab team and your attorney can all get concise information about the latest legal and regulatory developments-and find out what steps your laboratory can take to fulfill its responsibilities. Leading the discussion will be two of the nation’s keenest legal minds in clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology issues: Jane Pine Wood and Richard Cooper of McDonald Hopkins.

How Meaningful Use and EMR Adoption Will Reshape Your Lab’s Competitive Future—and Its Profitability

Leading experts in LIS, lab ordering/resulting service providers, and LIS-EMR interfaces share all the essentials of how labs can help physicians implement EMRs

“Meaningful use” rules and generous federal incentives are spurring many physicians to adopt electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Widespread use of these systems will trigger some of the biggest changes to the lab-testing marketplace in the past 25 years. These developments represent both an unprecedented threat and a one-time opportunity for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. That’s because, over the next 60 months, 480,000 physicians are expected to purchase and deploy an EMR. By comparison, only 120,000 physicians use an EMR in their daily practice today.

Molecular Diagnostics for Community Hospital Labs: Hitting Clinical and Financial Home Runsin Infectious Disease and Oncology Testing

How the implementation of molecular diagnostics can have a
positive impact on patient care and financial growth

Molecular diagnostics are transforming the way your lab tests for infectious diseases and solid tumors. Increasingly, molecular tests supplement and often replace conventional diagnostic assays. They’re also being used to obtain prognostic data, and in some cases dictate therapy.Molecular-based infectious disease assays enhance client/physician satisfaction by providing diagnostic information that yield quick results, making clinical decisions much easier. As a result, clinicians are increasingly asking for these tests.

Why Health Insurers Want to Pre-Authorize Genetic Assays and Expensive Clinical Pathology

Healthcare Reform: Engaging with Payers to
Enable Clinical and Financial Decision
Support at the Point of Care

Learn how and why your laboratory must be prepared to ensure
“the right test, at the right cost and the right time.”

Pre-authorization of genetic tests and molecular assays is a fast-growing trend. This is a serious threat to clinical labs, hospital outreach programs, and pathology groups—just the newest genetic tests give laboratories a way to deliver more diagnostic value to physicians. Join us on this upcoming audio conference to get the information you need about these powerful developments—along with how you can position your laboratory to be a preferred provider to health plans and physicians in your community.

How to Protect Your Laboratory’s Most Important Business Assets from Internal and External Threats

Critical new developments affecting trade secrets, non-compete agreements and employee handbooks

Every pathology practice and clinical laboratory has key assets that drive the value of the business. The importance of these assets is reflected in contracts and agreements on trade secrets, in non-compete covenants with executives and sales reps, and in employee handbooks. These are all designed to protect and maximize the value of the group practice or lab on behalf of its partners and owners.

Transfusion & Blood Management:
Practical Advice on How to
Save Blood, Save Dollars and Save Lives

Tips and strategies that helped one hospital reduce blood costs by $3.5 million in just three years.

Blood acquisition costs have more than doubled in the past few years and will continue to rise as blood production costs increase and the supply struggles to meet the demand. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Factor in other costs, like labor, supplies and blood administration, to name a few, and the price tag for transfusing patients exceeds blood-acquisition costs by five times or more.

How to Negotiate Part A Pathology Reimbursements
Using a Performance-Based Approach

Win-win breakthrough aligns hospitals and pathologists in Pathology Part A Agreements that deliver added value!

Typically, the amount of pathologists’ Part A reimbursement depended almost exclusively on your skills as a negotiator. But these days, that’s no longer enough. With the approval of the new healthcare reform legislation, all costs will be under increased scrutiny. As a result, one thing is almost certain: pathologists are going to have a difficult time increasing-or even maintaining-their Part A reimbursement levels come contract renewal time.

Managed Care’s Most Significant New Trends in 2010 and Their Impact on Your Lab’s Contract Renewal Negotiations

Pre-authorization of molecular tests
and the demand for clinical lab data
and utilization reports

Managed-care companies are about to target expensive molecular and genetic tests by requiring pre-authorization and patient counseling. In addition, regional and national health insurers now require that all network laboratories provide them with clinical data and utilization reports on these tests. These requirements are the latest trends to hit managed-care contracting, and pose a direct threat to every clinical laboratory and pathology group-including yours.

The A-to-Z of Vitamin D:
Why It’s Today’s Hottest Lab Test!

How Labs can deliver maximum clinical and financial value
with Vitamin D testing

You’ll get the latest information on the vigorous debate going on about what level of Vitamin D should be used by clinicians to determine a patient’s sufficiency. Find out how the healthcare establishment picked an RDA number that-as clinical knowledge advances-is much too low to support optimum health. And how new clinical studies are providing persuasive evidence that the daily intake of Vitamin D should be closer to 5,000 units per day. Understanding the changing science behind Vitamin D and why it is the fast-growing assay, by volume, on your lab’s test menu is critical to the future success of your lab.