Many outpatient therapy departments think of a no-show and cancellation reduction plan as a discharge plan. For example, if a patient does not show up a certain number of times, the organization may have a policy to discharge the patient. There is certainly a place for this for patients who repeatedly no-show and cancel. But […]
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Healthcare organizations need to pay attention to the amount of time it takes patients to get insurance verification and authorization completed. If the process takes too long, patients will seek treatment at other facilities even if they were referred to your organization. Insurance Verification and Authorization Benchmark Notwithstanding patient choice, outpatient therapy providers should be […]
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How would you like to reduce medical necessity denials in your outpatient therapy services? One way to do that is to ensure your therapists are capturing the impairment diagnoses in the plan of care. What is Impairment Diagnoses? Chapter 15 of the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual states: “a diagnosis (where allowed by state and local law) […]
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President Biden’s administration recently announced its Path Out of the Pandemic action plan which included specific guidance around a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The action plan calls for employers with 100 or more employees to require employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly tests, as well as requiring vaccinations for federal employees, contractors, and hospitals […]
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By John Britt, Senior Manager Outpatient therapy is a recurring service; for example, a routine plan of care is often 12 visits over 30 days. With rising co-pays and deductibles, patients are increasingly choosing less care, meaning less visits, than the therapists are recommending in the plan of care because of financial constraints. Your department […]
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When looking at your Outpatient Physical and Occupational Therapy departments, have you noticed a decrease in the volume of outpatient services? At Blue & Co. we often find that many hospitals and hospital systems have viable candidates for outpatient therapy services but are being seen by another healthcare organization due to a lack of a […]
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Outpatient Physical and Occupational Therapy are both paid either on a fee schedule or as a percent of charges. This means that if you are missing charges, you are missing out on net revenue opportunities. It is important to have an effective charge capture program to make sure your organization is not losing out on […]
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Staying Ahead of the CMS Auditor: Why Documentation in Outpatient Rehabilitation Matters The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended audits between March and August of 2020 to allow providers to focus on providing care during COVID-19. But now external audits in outpatient rehabilitation are ramping back up. Since the Office of Inspector General […]
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Blue & Co. reviewed publicly available information on a 120 bed, non-profit, acute-care hospital. The data suggested there was revenue improvement opportunity in their outpatient physical and occupational therapy departments. The department had approximately 27,000 patient visits the previous year. During an assessment, we co-validated a significant set of revenue improvement opportunities: charge capture improvement, […]
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WellSky will be hosting a webinar covering An Outpatient Rehabilitation Update: Practical Strategies for Success with New Regulations on February 9th starting at 11:00 a.m. CST. In December 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the fiscal year 2021 Physician Fee Schedule and Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rules. Less than […]
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CARMEL, Ind. (May 5, 2022) – Blue & Co., LLC is excited to announce our new partnership with Vsimple, a workflow management software company based in New Albany, IN. Blue & Co and Vsimple will be working closely together to address the workflow and process improvement challenges of manufacturers throughout the Midwest. “At Blue & […]
It is that time of year again! The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the proposed rule that would update Medicare payment policies and rates for the fiscal year (FY) 2023’s Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS). The Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) was implemented on October 1, 2019. This […]
One of the most challenging conversations in any multi-physician practice or specialty-based hospital employed group is about how to create a fair distribution of on-call and/or inpatient hospital service coverage while balancing the duties of an outpatient practice. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to clinician burnout, and physicians and Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) place significant […]
