The post talks about how several New Jersey hospitals are touting low wait times in an effort to attract patients to their Emergency Departments, according to a Wall Street Journal report (how entrepreneurial !!)

It reads Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center recently unveiled two billboards in Jersey City that advertise the hospital’s emergency room wait times.  The billboards are updated with current wait times several times a day.  While Christ Hospital in Jersey City plans to display its wait times on its website.

I am proud of these healthcare institutions for acting on the need in the market to better serve patients (i.e. customers) by streamlining their ED operations,  then creating a product to market  in an advertising campaign.  I am sure a smart phone application is on the way!

Well to the contrary,  I had to go and read Branwen Jeffreys’ blog in the BBC health news Kings Fund: Waiting times in England at three-year high.  The King’s Fund is an English charity that seeks to understand how the health system in England can be improved.  The Kings Fund statistics for February show 15% of patients waited over 18 weeks for treatment, the longest time since April 2008.  It argues the shift is due to the financial pressures on the NHS.

So now, I am wondering if Obamacare could stifle the competitive spirit.  And could long wait times  become a trend in the U.S one day?

Kings Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said the health service was now operating in a different climate.

“In the past the two things that kept waiting down were targets and extra money. Managers got sacked for not meeting targets. And of course in the future there won’t be the same amount of extra money.”

The official waiting figures are only part of the picture. As the BBC recently found, some parts of the NHS in England have introduced new restrictions on treatment or put routine operations on hold for several months. None of this appears in the statistics as it occurs before the clock starts.

For me this is the frustration of healthcare reform, there is still not enough firm information out there to get our arms around to understand what direction we need to focus on.  What I do believe is that solid business ideals are going to make it shine!

I just hope there won’t be too many rules around it to prevent  it from doing what is intended to do.  Cut costs and deliver excellence in healthcare.  What’s your take?

The post Two Sides of HealthCare Reform. Business vs Obamacare? first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

In his blog following the event LIBN breakfast was Powerful but left LI Heathcare Powerless Bill shared his thoughts and disappointment on the lack of knowledge from local “experts” about ACOs. What was surprising was that all the industry experts were unable to say how things are going to turn out since the new lay has been passed.

The definition of an ACO might differ slightly depending on who you talk to. In another MAS blog, the end results and benefits were identified as an ACO being”… technology-dependent, requiring good healthcare data to identify the patients and communities most in need, as well as electronic patient records immediately accessible to all doctors and hospitals treating a patient.”

To help educate all of us, Bill is launching an MAS blog series focusing on ACOs, presenting the pros, cons and some food for thought. We’d love to hear what you think in the process, so be sure to post your comments, ask questions and share with others!

Stay tuned for the first installment “ACOs-Accountable Care Organization’s Part 1- The Pros for Them”

The post MAS takes a closer look at ACOs-Accountable Care Organizations first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

This dynamic, interactive yet informative presentation can be viewed here, but it doesn’t compare to having these three industry experts present live.  They’d be more than happy to bring their insights and presentation to your organization.

For further information, call Bill Baylis of Medical Account Solutions at (516) 348-7282, Christine Ippolito, SPHR of Compass Workforce Solutions, LLC at 631-539-6112 or Armando D’Accordo of CMIT Solutions of South Nassau at516-208-4161.

The post MAS Partners with Compass Workforce Solutions & CMIT Solutions of South Nassau to educate Medical Interns! first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

The panel included Long Island’s best and brightest in healthcare, including Raymond J. Keating (Chief Economist Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council), Anne D. Shybunko-Moore (President GSE Dynamics Inc.), Thomas McAteer (Aetna Medicaid), Michael Dowling (President/CEO North Shore-LIJ Health System) and Kevin Dahill (CEO Nassau/Suffolk Hospital Council Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association).

The debate and banter was lively to say the least and everyone had fun sharing their own opinion on what we should be doing better to serve the future of healthcare. But the buzz from the crowd afterwards was how “shocking” it was that even these great minds in healthcare could not come together and predict what Healthcare Reform means to Long Island or small business owners.

However, there was a consensus that, for one, the status quo is not working and two, something needs to change. Yet almost one year to the day of Obamacare being passed in Congress, no one really knows what it all means for us!  All of these questions are still up in the air: Will Obamacare pass the legal test?  Will Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) really give us better, low cost care?  And, what should LI business do to prepare for all the new changes?

I was left with one hope as I spoke to some of the attendees and panelists on the way out.  Small business owners like me are not waiting for the fallout.  There are many owners in the room who will have to be creative and roll with the punches to stay alive. With seemingly no help from the government, small business will do what we do best-be crafty and survive!!

The post LIBN breakfast was Powerful but left LI Heathcare Powerless first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

The post Is big business looking to cash in on ACO and healthcare reform? first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

Your Medical Billing Office Newsletter Preview

The post MAS is Proud to Announce the Launch of our Newsletter Your Medical Billing Office News first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

Some Highlights:

We’re looking for new ways to press the issue of catching fugitives,” said Gerald Roy, deputy inspector general for investigations at the Health and Human Services Department. “If someone walks into a bank and steals $3,000 or $4,000, it would be all over the newspaper. These people manage to do it from a less high profile position, but they still have a tremendous impact.”

Look out for:

Scammers “often utilize their ties to a particular community,” said Roy. “They take advantage of ethnic communities based on language barriers or lack of knowledge about how the Medicare system works. These folks are exploiting low-income communities.”

To read more:

Fox News

The post Health Care Fraud Most-Wanted List. MAS thinks we should start here. first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

With the new law, doctors who advise patients on end of life planning will be paid by the government. As quoted in the article “The new rule says Medicare will cover “voluntary advance care planning,” to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of the annual visit.”

The article also goes on to discuss concerns expressed by opponents of the new regulation that “…the Obama administration was bringing back a procedure that could be used to justify the premature withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from people with severe illnesses and disabilities.”

Read more about this new legislation and then come back and  tell us what you think about “end-of-life planning”

The post The newest blog on #healthcare reform first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

With the new law, doctors who advise patients on end of life planning will be paid by the government. As quoted in the article “The new rule says Medicare will cover “voluntary advance care planning,” to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of the annual visit.”

The article also goes on to discuss concerns expressed by opponents of the new regulation that “…the Obama administration was bringing back a procedure that could be used to justify the premature withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from people with severe illnesses and disabilities.”

Read more about this new legislation and then come back and  tell us what you think about “end-of-life planning”

The post The newest blog on #healthcare reform first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.

You’ll often hear the word expert used by just about anyone and in different contexts. There’s the expert witness or the expert consultant. By the definition alone, anyone who has gone to school and earned a degree could technically be called an expert. Technically.

But we all know it takes more than a few forgotten classes to make someone an expert. In my opinion, an expert is someone who is involved in ongoing practice and education to master their craft.

Just as doctor’s and health care practitioners must continue to educate themselves to stay on top of new treatments and methodologies, it’s vital for medical billing companies to stay in the know about various aspects that fall under the medical billing umbrella.

At MAS, we work hard to stay ahead of the curve and know everything there is to know about what’s on the horizon. When other companies are still focused only on compliance and EMR, we are looking ahead to things like ICD-10, over turning denials and appeals.

Don’t know what that is? Give  us a call or drop us a line at MAS, we’ll be happy to tell you. After all, it’s our job to be experts in medical billing….and your job as a doctor to be an expert in patient care.

The post What does it take to be a medical billing expert? first appeared on Medical Account Solutions.