The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has just announced dramatic changes to the rules for billing and coding hospital outpatient services in 2006. More than 500 codes will be deleted and new ones created with no grace period for compliance. And there will be over 230 code changes that directly affect the chargemaster.

Join the reimbursement experts of BESLER Consulting, a leading advisory firm in healthcare financial management and operations, to get a better understanding of the new Medicare coding and reimbursement changes for OPPS and how it will impact your organization in this special 90-minute audio conference, “Management Briefing: New Medicare 2006 Outpatient Coding & Reimbursement Changes.” The program was held in December 2005.

Be prepared! The final rule will be effective for hospital outpatient services furnished on or after January 1, 2006. “There’s a lot of work to be done with this year’s changes almost doubling last year’s… and still no grace period!”

According to CMS, the changes to the payment rates and increased volume of services will contribute to an overall increase in projected payments to over 4,200 hospitals for Medicare outpatient services of $27.6 billion in 2006 compared to projected payments of $26.2 billion in 2005, an increase of 5.4 percent. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that payments will increase to your organization. Attend this conference and bring your staff members to evaluate the changes to determine if this will mean an increase or decrease in payments to your organization!"

Presenters:

Tina Ford, Senior Manager, Reimbursement

BESLER Consulting

Vickie McElarney, Senior Manager, Chargemaster

BESLER Consulting

Agenda:

• Review the new 2006 Medicare code deletions and additions
• How to prioritize over 700 code changes to get them in on time
• Learn the reimbursement impact of the changes
• The new infusion therapy and chemotherapy infusion code changes
• Observation code changes and regulations -- what does it mean for reporting these codes?
• Contrast media code changes -- what are they and how do you bill them?
• New “Status Indicators” and what they mean to you
• Multiple pharmacy code changes plus say good by to generic versus brand name drugs
• Multiple radiopharmaceutical code changes
• What’s going on with 3 D reconstruction?

Who Will Benefit From This Audio Conference?

CEOs, COOs, CFOs, vice president of finance, director of reimbursement, controller, vice president of operations, strategic and implementation consultants, operations executives, executive directors, team leaders, planners, product managers, knowledge managers, department heads, medical directors, director of managed care, director of contracting, network development and provider services directors, strategic planners, healthcare management, TPAs, network managers, company executives, medical management directors, analysts, implementer consultants, account services and administration executives.

How The Audio Conference Works:

"Attend" this program right in your office and enjoy significant savings no travel time or hassle; no hotel expenses. It's so convenient! Invite your staff members to participate. Include as many individuals from your organization as you wish. Gather in a conference room and use a speakerphone. The conference lasts 90 minutes. This includes ample time for the question and answer period. No special equipment is needed.