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Greetings,
Welcome to another issue of
our 'Every Once In A While' newsletter. As always, if
there are any issues you would like us to cover, just let
us know.
| Medicare Revalidation |
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In September 2007 Medicare announced its intention
to revalidated the enrollment information of certain
providers. If you have not had to update your provider
file in recent years you can expect to receive a
letter from them requesting updated information
regarding your organization. Our understanding of the
process is that you will be required to basically refile
for your provider number. We are prepared to walk
you through this process, however one of the pieces
of required documentation is a copy of the letter from
the IRS that awarded you your tax ID number (the
CP575). We are requesting that ALL of our clients
send a copy of that letter in to our office ASAP so that
we may prepare for your revalidation by making sure
that the National Provider Identifier information (NPI)
matches exactly with what is on file at the IRS. If you
cannot locate a copy of your letter you may contact the
IRS at 1-800-829-0115. If you have any questions
please do not hesitate to contact our office.
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| 2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines |
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We have posted the 2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines
in the documents section of our website.
These guidelines were released at the end of January
2008 and can be found by going to the documents section of our website or
to
http:
//aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08poverty.shtml.
Many
of your charity policies allow us to update to the most
current guidelines while others require a
resolution from their board. Please contact your
Account Manager if you have any questions regarding
these guidelines.
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| Washington State Audit Guide Published |
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We have posted the guide for the Washington State
Auditors office that was mentioned in some of our
newsletters in 2007. This guide is available to
auditors across Washington State and was designed
to help them understand the reports we provide to
your organization each month. It also makes
recommendations on what documents you should
have available on site during the audit.
Please take the time to make sure this document gets
to the person in your department who is most involved
in the auditing process.
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| New Medicare Signature Rules |
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Medicare requires that you get a signature from the
patient in order to bill them. It used to be that if the
patient was unable to sign you simply had to
document the medical reason why there was no
signature available. In November 2007 however,
Medicare published new signature requirements,
effective January 1, 2008. The new signature
requirements state that if you are unable to obtain the
signature of the patient you must try to obtain the
signature of what Medicare is calling an "Alternative
Authorized Signer". That person can be:
- The Patient's legal guardian
- A person who receives government benefits on
behalf of the patient
- The Patient's health care POA
- A person who arranges treatment or handles the
patient's affairs
- A Representative of an institution that furnished
care, services or assistance to the patient.
If the signature is not available from the patient or
Authorized Signer as an EMERGENCY Supplier you
have a third option of providing three pieces of
verification that the ambulance transport occurred.
- The ambulance personnel must sign verifying the
medical reason why the patient could not sign and
why there were no Authorized Signers available.
- You need documentation of the date & time of the
transport and the name of the receiving facility (Your
MIR will do).
- The MIR signed by a representative of the
receiving hospital or you must obtain some other
piece of the patient's hospital record, such as a face
sheet.
As a NONEMERGENCY Supplier you have no option;
you must either obtain the patient's signature or
signature of an Authorized Signer.
Your contract with Systems Design NW states that
your department is
responsible for getting these patient signatures, and
we have always billed under the assumption that the
signatures were available in your office if needed.
However, because of compliance concerns, effective
immediately, we are requesting a copy of those
signatures in our office in order to bill
Medicare. Please do not send the original signatures
as our records policy does not extend to the 10 year
retention requirement for these signatures. If you are
unable to get the patient's signature we will try and
help. However remember that Medicare is your
biggest payor and billing delays will affect your bottom
line. Additionally, at contract renewal time your
signature compliance rate will figure prominently in
our calculation of our billing rates.
The lesson here is ALWAYS get the patient signature
in the field.
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| On the lighter side... |
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Two elderly women were out driving in a large car -
both could barely see over the dashboard. As they
were cruising along, they came to an intersection. The
stoplight was red, but they just went on through. The
woman in the passenger seat thought to herself "I
must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went
through a red light." After a few more minutes, they
came to another intersection and the light was red
again. Again, they went right through. The woman in
the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had
been red but was really concerned that she was
losing it. She was getting nervous. At the next
intersection, sure enough, the light was red and they
went right through. So, she turned to the other woman
and said, "Mildred, did you know that we just ran
through three red lights in a row? You could have
killed us both!" Mildred turned to her and said "Oh,
crap, am I driving?"
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| Staff E-Mail Addresses |
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Although we always welcome your phone calls, there
are times you may wish to contact us via e-mail.
| Gina Behrens |
GinaB@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Shelley Brewington |
ShelleyB@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Lori Christenbury |
LoriC@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Cris Connors |
CrisC@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Judy Dunn |
JudyD@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Tammy Flanagan |
TammyF@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Jennifer Flanagan |
JenniferF@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Carol Green |
CarolG@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Karen Guay |
KarenG@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Laurel Hoch |
LaurelH@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Kim Mayes |
KimM@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Donna Martin |
DonnaM@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Michelle Mussman |
MichelleM@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Lois Pierce |
LoisP@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Lisa Rogalsky |
LisaR@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Sue Schmitt |
SueS@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Cindy Tomeo |
CindyT@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Wanda Wilcox |
WandaW@SystemsDesignNW.com |
| Roger Zegers |
RogerZ@SystemsDesignNW.com |
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Welcome New Clients |
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Roger A. Zegers, President
Welcome to our new clients over the past several
months!
- Clallam County Fire District No. 5
- Garfield County Fire District No. 1
- City of Dupont Fire Department
- North County Regional Fire Authority
- Mason County Fire District No. 3
- Mason County Fire District No. 5
- Pierce County Fire District No. 23
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