Radiology Summit — Sessions
Monday June 5, 2006
General Session
Future of Imaging Reimbursement: Positioning your Practice to Survive the Inevitable
Christie James, MS, Shay Pratt
With increasing utilization and double digit growth in the imaging sector of healthcare, it comes as no surprise that payers are now targeting the perception of imaging as a “cash cow”. The ‘05 Deficit Reduction Act has significantly impacted the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reimbursement for contiguous radiology procedures. Even more significant, this legislation also caps technical reimbursement for imaging services for the Physician Fee Schedule at hospital ambulatory rates. Many commercial payers are now looking to adopt Medicare’s reduction strategies. Commercial payers are also pursuing a number of other utilization reduction strategies, including pay for performance contracts and radiology management programs (requiring pre-certification prior to performing exams). Their programs have significant implications to the operations of your practice and the future of reimbursement for radiology over the next 5 to 10 years. This session will discuss these strategies and how they may impact your practice now and in the future.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
General Session
ACR Legislative and Regulatory Challenges for 2006
Joshua Cooper, Pam Kassing, RCC
Learn of ACR's efforts to mitigate the effects of imaging cuts enacted in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) for 2007. Gain information on solving the problems of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) for 2007. Hear the latest on Medicare's position on the DRA, the discounting of multiple procedures rule and practice expense and find out about MedPAC's agenda and recommendations that affect radiology. You will also obtain insight on how these governmental issues translate to private payer policy.
Coding & Reimbursement Updates
Walter C. Blackham, MS, RCC
This comprehensive seminar is designed to present authoritative, up-to-date information on coding updates, a terminology review, and an overview of anatomy and physiology. Geared to any individual directly responsible or involved in the coding of radiological procedures or submitting claims for reimbursement.
Most Frequently Asked Legal Questions about Marketing your Practice
W. Kenneth Davis, Jr., JD
Everyone knows that marketing is usually a key to business success. But in health care, marketing can be downright treacherous if you don’t have a solid understanding of what is legal and what may be illegal. This session will review some of the common marketing strategies and tactics used by radiology businesses and examine the key laws they potentially implicate. The intent is to develop a sense among the participants for certain basic principles gleamed from these laws (and the scrutiny health care businesses have been given under these laws). The session will then offer practical guidelines on what is permissible, what is impermissible, and what’s in the “gray area” of legal compliance.
Understanding the Radiology Practice – From Soup to Nuts
Nicole L. Palmer, CPA
This session will include an overview of all areas of radiology business management including billing, finance, compliance, contracting, governance, marketing, human resources, legal and general practice administration. Also in this Session Radiology Management will be compared to the management of other medical specialties.
Imaging Center Survival – A Case Study
Claudia A. Murray, Scott Raymond
The passage of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 will result in significantly decreased revenues for most imaging providers. The proposed changes to Medicare reimbursement for 2007 will result in further reductions. This session will provide an overview of the DRA, illustrate the potential impact to outpatient imaging centers, and identify opportunities to lessen the financial impact through the implementation of operational efficiencies.
Unwinding or Restructuring Medical Imaging Joint Ventures
W. Kenneth Davis, Jr., JD, Bill Sanders
Regulatory and reimbursement changes are impacting the way in which hospitals, physicians and entrepreneurs can joint venture medical imaging operations. This session will review the most common joint venture models, how changes in regulations and reimbursement will impact these models and offer approaches to unwinding or restructuring these models, using some actual case examples. The intent is to give participants some tools to evaluate their current joint venture arrangements as they relate to the new regulatory and reimbursement environment and to plan a strategy for change, if necessary.
Radiation Oncology Coding Principles
Julianne Seaman, CPC, CCS-P
This session will cover basic coding principles as they relate to Radiation Oncology. Included in this are:
- An overview of CPT coding, modifiers, diagnosis coding and CCI edits
- Coding and documenting for teletherapy and brachytherapy
- Basic coding and documentation of evaluation and management codes
- Assist in increased proficiency on documenting and diagnosis coding for primary and metastatic neoplasms
Medicare Investigations and the Regulatory Process
Claudia A. Murray
Though many radiology practices and imaging centers worry that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) could knock on their door, it is more likely that a Federal health care program investigation will originate with Medicare Program Integrity or a Program Safeguard Contractor (PSC) under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Utilization of 2005 Imaging Center Performance Survey to Improve Performance
Joseph P. White, CPA, MBA
Benchmarking your practice utilizing the RBMA surveys is a critical step to identifying opportunities to improve performance. This session will provide an overview of the data and information in the 2005 Imaging Center Survey and how other groups are using it to enhance performance.
The Most Common Missed Coding and Billing Opportunities
Bernie Van Someren, BS, RT
This session will identify CPT errors that are commonly seen when coding and billing for services such as Nuclear Medicine, CT, MR, US and Invasive Radiology procedures. Key phrases will be identified in sample reports to help clearly identify services / materials provided.
Putting the Fun into Dysfunctional – Improving Group Cohesion
Will Latham, CPA, MBA
No medical group is so talented, no practice so unified, no clinic so successful that it is immune to internal conflict and dysfunctional physician behavior. Misunderstandings arise. Personalities clash. Petty irritations mount. For groups to be successful, physicians must resolve and move past these conflicts. This 60 minute program teaches the manager how to create a partnership and build an effective physician team.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
General Session
Leading Leaders
Will Latham, CPA, MBA
Effective leadership usually means the difference between the success and failure of any organization. Leadership is even more important in high-talent organizations such as medical groups where leaders have limited authority over the persons they are supposed to lead. This 60 minute program shows you how to leverage the assets of the talented and powerful members of your group.
General Session
Improving Operations Case Study – Keeping the Appointment
Susan Cox, CPA, Pat Vinson, RCC
Marketing has done their job and the patient has made their appointment. Now it’s time to make sure the patient actually shows up. In this case study, we will look at ways to decrease no shows, fill empty appointment slots and ensure proper collection of reimbursement information.
