Healthcare News and Updates

Are EHR Incentive Payments for Real?

2012-02-17T16:57:00.000-06:00

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made a statement today that the number of hospitals using electronic medical records has increased dramatically -- an over 100% increase in the last 2 years. She also indicated about US$3.1 billion in incentive payments have been made to over 41,000 doctors.

While we may all have had our doubts about the stability of the incentive program, it is clear that real dollars are being dispersed to providers who successfully attest. The trick is in successful attestation.

That's one of the many reasons we're excited about CareTracker from Ingenix. There is a dashboard that updates in real time to let you know how you're doing toward attestation, and what specifically remains to be done. You can see an example here.

To read details about Secretary Sebelius' announcement, visit this page.

For details about Medicare and Medicaid disbursements, visit this page.

For more details on CareTracker, click here.

ANSI 5010 Giving Medical Billers Everywhere Big Headaches

2012-02-08T16:36:00.000-06:00

If your medical inurance claims are being denied now more than ever before, you're not alone. Inconsistency amongst the major insurance payers is wreaking havoc across the healthcare industry, to the point that the president of the MGMA sent a formal letter asking for help from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the Department of Health and Human Services. Here is the first paragraph of the letter:

Dear Secretary Sebelius:

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) requests that you take immediate action to address the payment disruption issues that have occurred as a result of the federally mandated transition to HIPAA Version 5010 electronic transactions on Jan. 1. Medical practices throughout the nation are experiencing significant challenges implementing these new transactions, a situation that has led to considerable cash flow problems for physicians and their practices. Problems are being reported with both Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and commercial plans.

A summary with a link to the full letter can be found here: http://bit.ly/A7ILHL

So if you're having trouble getting your insurance claims paid, don't pull all your hair out just yet. Stay calm, take a deep breath, and remember what it was like with NPI numbers. It will all blow over, it will just take some time. Hang in there!

Say Hello To CareTracker!

2012-01-25T17:12:00.000-06:00

Healthcare providers from across the country are discovering how one single program can make a huge difference in a modern medical practice. One place to organize patient billing, electronic health records, e-prescriptions, insurance eligibility, and meaningful use data. One place, that can be with you wherever you are.

Meet Caretracker, a completely-online electronic health record and patient billing system. Say goodbye to paper charts, adios to paper insurance claims, and bon voyage to worries over meaningful use attestation.

We are very happy to provide this option to both our current customers and new friends we haven't met yet. Give us a call and we can show you why we're so excited about CareTracker!

877-450-4029

Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T09:08:00.000-06:00

From all of us at Dabbs Computer, we want to wish you a happy, healthy, and proseperous new year!

Lytec 2011 is here!

2011-03-14T11:52:00.001-05:00

Lytec 2011 has officially been released and will be ready for shipment very soon!

Lytec Upgrade Sale!

2011-02-10T16:26:00.000-06:00

Lytec 2010 Upgrades – 15% off Lytec 2010, FREE upgrade to Lytec 2011, and FREE remote installation! Discount, FREE, and FREE!

You will need Lytec 2011's updated code for ANSI 5010 compliance, so take advantage of this sale and upgrade your software before it's too late! When Lytec 2011 is released, we can't make this same deal anymore. Call 877-450-4029 for sale information and mention "BLOGGER."

Nashville Covered in Snow and Ice!

2011-02-10T08:54:00.001-06:00

We're short-staffed today but open for business!

Dabbs Computer Wins McKesson VAR of the Year Award

2010-11-18T11:07:00.000-06:00

Dabbs Computer Consultants this week was awarded McKesson's prestigious "Lytec Value Added Reseller of the Year" award for 2010! We were thrilled and honored to accept this on behalf of all our incredible staff members and wish to thank all our loyal customers who have made this possible. In addition, DCC was presented with a Longevity Award for over 10 years of partnership, plaques for participation in the Lytec Advisory Board, and a Lifetime Achievement award for the owner, Willie Dabbs. Thanks again to all our customers, and here's to our continued mutual success and a great 2011!

ARRA Reimbursement, Add-ons, and Tips & Tricks Dominate User Conference

2010-08-27T16:52:00.000-05:00

This week's big Practice Partner User Group Conference in Seattle, Washington was full of information about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Featuring several "tracks," there was one track entitled "Get Connected," which was dedicated completely to this part of the news for Medical Practices. Other tracks included "Care Quality," "Efficiency," "Basics and Beyond," "Optimization," "Technology," and "Best Practices." These tracks included two full days of group presentations and discussions.

It was quickly evident that thousands of doctors around the country are using Practice Partner/LytecMD/Medisoft Clinical to successfully meet the needs of their patients even in the changing landscape of medical technology. Even more compelling was the number of third-party add-ons that are available to assist with faxing, scanning, scheduling, scripting, and documenting. Even MORE compelling was the COMMUNITY of EHR users, and how active they are in sharing their knowledge through the internet. There are forums, file sharing sites, knowledge bases, and data testing facilities, all available to anyone who wants to participate. And many are run by people with no affiliation with the manufacturer! It's amazing how a software program can have so many fans!

I must admit I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information that has been generated about ARRA, in particular. If you feel a little lost as well, you may be interested to know we will very soon be providing webinars to explain what's going on in this dynamic landscape. For more information, keep watching our web site. If you have questions, feel free to call us and speak to Joe Harrington. Joe will be hosting the webinars and has a lot of information he's ready to share. More details soon!

Dabbs Computer Status after Nashville Flood

2010-05-03T08:21:00.001-05:00

After widespread flooding in Middle Tennessee this weekend, we are able to report that our office was unaffected and we are open today. Some of our employees and clients were not as fortunate however, and your thoughts for their recovery are very much appreciated.

This blog has moved

2010-04-20T10:09:00.002-05:00

This blog is now located at http://news.softwaremd.com/.

The truth about the EMR incentives.

2009-06-11T08:36:00.015-05:00

Hello everyone!
Do you want clarification of the pertinent information included in the ARRA ---
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?

Or simple information on how this relates to your medical practices?
Many of you want to know:
Has the bill actually been passed into law?
Who qualifies?
How do you qualify?
Which program do you qualify for?
What are the incentive amounts?
How and when do they pay out?

…And probably most importantly, when should you get started?

I’ll begin to answer those concerns and more through a new series of posts.
Let’s start with a series of questions and answers, first.
Why do we need this bill?
It has been estimated that as much as $131 Billion can be saved annually in the United States by universal implementation of EMRs.
The need for rapid response in the fight against all infectious diseases like polio, tuberculosis and malaria also triggered action by our government.
Monitoring Continuity of Care will identify and measure diseases with positive treatment outcomes like asthma, diabetes, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer.
FYI It has been estimated that as much as 30% of laboratory studies are repeated needlessly, because the requesting physician was unaware that the result already existed.

We'll cover more on this next week, until then have a great holiday and be safe.

You can contact Joe Harrington toll free at 877-450-4029, ext 211 or by email @ jharrington@dabbsco.com

Phone Service Restored

2009-04-03T14:16:00.000-05:00

Our phone lines are open again. Thank you for your patience!

Nashville Phone Outage

2009-04-03T13:42:00.000-05:00

This post will serve to inform anyone trying to call in to Dabbs Computer Consultants that there is an outage in the Nashville, TN area. We can neither make or receive calls. We regret the inconvenience and expect this to be resolved shortly. Thanks for your understanding, we hope to be speaking with you soon.

Dest regards,

DCC Staff

VAR of the Year for Customer Support

2008-10-09T14:13:00.000-05:00

Deja Vu!

For the second time, Dabbs Computer Consultants has won VAR of the Year for Customer Support! Our thanks to those of you who called McKesson to let them know you appreciate our service and support. This is actually the most important award we could win, considering how important we feel it is to provide top-quality customer service to our clients. We didn't apply for this award, and it wasn't based on recommendations from other resellers. It was based on calls received by McKesson from our customers about the job we're doing. So thank you very much!

In other news, we are now taking pre-orders for Lytec 2009. You can read about the features here. We are excited to offer an enhanced product with so many time-saving features.

For those of you looking for an Electronic Medical Records solution that will integrate directly with Lytec, call and ask us about LytecMD. For those of you looking for a patient web portal, call and ask us about RelayHealth.

We have many new solutions lined up for 2009. Call us at 877-450-4029 and ask for more information!

Gateway EDI - Important News

2008-05-23T15:00:00.001-05:00

Subject: Warning/Informational Messages

Gateway EDI is pleased to announce the release of "New Warning/Informational Messages."

This new report will appear as a link on the dashboard of your website. "New Warning/Informational Messages" will have the same functionality as New Rejections to help make you aware of warning messages being returned by Gateway EDI and payers. Warning messages allow claims to continue through processing and adjudication, and are NOT rejections. However, please be aware that informational messages or warning messages give you important information regarding upcoming changes and will eventually result in rejections if the issues are not addressed.

NPI Deadline - GATEWAY Clients

2008-05-22T13:14:00.000-05:00

NPI/Legacy Identifier Update
Beginning May 23, 2008, Medicare will not pay for claims where the NPI is not provided. This will affect claims submitted to Gateway EDI after 2 p.m. CST on May 21, 2008. No changes are required on your end related to Legacy Identifiers. Gateway EDI will remove the Legacy Identifiers for all Medicare payers.
Many commercial payers have not communicated their NPI implementation plan. Please make sure you are sending your NPI, but do NOT stop sending your Legacy Identifiers. Gateway EDI will continue to send the NPI/Legacy Pair until we are notified that the payer will no longer accept the Legacy Identifier.
For more information regarding Medicare NPI numbers, please refer to the CMS Bulletin at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM5890.pdf.

Message from McKesson for Phoenix and Claims Manager Clients

2008-05-22T09:54:00.000-05:00

NOTICE: MedAvant Downtime Scheduled to Begin Friday, May 23

Beginning Friday, May 23 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, MedAvant will have a scheduled processing downtime in order to relocate its processing systems to a new data center. At 3:05 p.m. EDT, Internet connections and connections to partner networks will be placed in a down state at MedAvant's data center. The downtime will disable MedAvant's portal and all IP-based communication systems. Portal users will receive a "page cannot be found" message, and RT B2B users will receive a "connection refused" message. According to MedAvant, all systems will be back online and available to customers by Tuesday, May 27, at 5:00 a.m. EDT.

The MedAvant data center outage will impact both Phoenix dial-up and Phoenix broadband customers during the scheduled outage (May 23 at 3:00 p.m. EDT until May 27 at 5:00 a.m. EDT).

MedAvant will accept batch claim submission files until 3:00 p.m. EDT on May 23, at which time the MedAvant front-end communication servers will be taken offline. Claims received on Friday will be delivered to payers on Tuesday, May 27. REC reports for claims received on Friday will be available beginning Wednesday, May 28, at 5:00 a.m. EDT.

MedAvant advises that customers should not attempt to submit claims or access its portal during the planned downtime.

Stratus Platform Turned Off

2008-05-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

The following pertains only to clients who are using the MedAvant/Per-Se clearinghouse and have not switched to Phoenix or Claims Manager. It is an edited version of the announcement from McKesson:

The electronic claims processing system known as the Stratus platform was turned off on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Customers are no longer able to transmit claims using Stratus. Customers that are still transmitting their claims on the Stratus platform will need to be migrated over to the Phoenix platform to be able to continue their electronic claim submission to the MedAvant Clearinghouse.

We at Dabbs Computer have made several attempts over the past year to notify all our Stratus users that the platform would be closing, and we believe we have reached everyone. If by some chance you were missed, or if you are not a Dabbs Computer client but would like some help, please call us ASAP at 877-450-4029.

Gateway News! - CMS Legacy Free Day

2008-05-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

CMS has requested clearinghouses that submit claims to Medicare to participate in a one day NPI preparation exercise. On May 7, 2008, Gateway EDI will strip the legacy identifiers when they are submitted as part of an NPI/legacy pair. On May 8, Gateway EDI will revert back to sending Medicare NPI/legacy pairs as received from the providers.

This exercise will help Medicare providers evaluate their NPI readiness prior to the May 23, 2008, deadline. The outcomes of this exercise are described below:

Claims are processed and paid by Medicare. Under this scenario, the provider can feel confident that their cash flow will not be affected by the May 23 implementation date.

Claims are rejected or suspended. Under this scenario, the provider will know in advance that there are problems that must be resolved prior to May 23. Resolution might include changes to the NPPES data to the 855 enrollment record, and in this case, the provider should to contact the payer directly for resolution.

Action required by Customers: Providers should send Medicare claims as normal on May 6, and Gateway EDI will format the data as requested by CMS to meet the requirements of the "Legacy Free" day.

Phoenix Issue Resolved

2008-04-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

This just in from McKesson:

"The clearinghouse has remedied an issue reported earlier today that was causing PHX dial-up customers to receive a "password required for [client ID]" error when trying to transmit claims or receive reports. We have successfully tested the resolution and believe this issue to be closed. Thank you for your patience as we worked to resolve the issue."

Important Announcement for Phoenix Users

2008-04-28T11:14:00.000-05:00

This message came in today from McKesson:

"We have been made aware that when PHX customers try to transmit claims or receive reports they get the following error: "password required for [client
ID]". We are working to resolve this as a Priority 1 issue. We will
send out an updated message when the issue has been resolved. We apologize
for any inconvenience."

NPI News

2008-04-24T12:32:00.000-05:00

Effective with claims received on or after May 22, 2008, Medicare will not pay for claims where the NPI is not provided in the Secondary Provider ID fields when a Secondary Provider is included on the claim. Secondary Providers include Ordering, Referring, Attending, Operating, Other, and Service Facility.

If an NPI from the Ordering, Referring, Attending, Operating, Other, Service Facility or Purchased Service provider cannot be obtained, CMS has instructed that you may report your own name and NPI in the claims Ordering/Referring/Attending/Operating/Other/Service Facility or Purchased Service Provider fields.

These fields are located in boxes 17 and 32 on the CMS 1500 and can be updated in Lytec under the Addresses record of the Provider. Click on the Insurance Code tab and insert the NPI number in the appropriate field.

If you have any questions about where this information needs to go, don't hesitate to call us.

Lytec 2008 SP-1 Now in Testing

2008-04-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

McKesson Corporation is now testing Lytec 2008 Service Pack 1. If you would like to help test this early ("beta") version, please contact us. We are looking for multiple-physician practices that do a large amount of billing and/or scheduling. Please call us at 877-450-4029 if you would like to participate.

Important Notice to Phoenix/MedAvant Clients

2008-03-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

We have received a notice from McKesson/Lytec/MedAvant that they are experiencing problems with Blue Cross/Blue Shield claims today, March 12, 2008. The notice included the following:

We are seeing an extremely high clearinghouse reject on BS032 claims today. The error message says "BILLING PROVIDER PRIMARY IDENTIFICATION NUMBER IS MISSING OR INVALID."

It appears that the only claims that are getting through are the ones where the customer failed to input their NPI.
Do NOT take the NPI out. To do so would mean that other claims would get rejected.
Clearinghouse management has already been informed of the issue. We expect to have the problem resolved soon.
Reprocessing information is not available at this time. The clearinghouse tries to do this whenever possible but there are sometimes special circumstances that prohibit this. I will let you know as soon as more information becomes available.

Dabbs Computer will post an update on this page as soon as more information is available. Please check back soon.