Thank You!

We send special thanks to our friends at HCP for answering our questions and helping us to provide the updated (February) DOH statistical reporting tools for our clients.

April 6 

Billing & Pre-billing

April 13 

Referral Management

May 22-24, 2011
HCA's Annual Membership Conference
Saratoga Springs
Website

May 25-26, 2011
New England Home Care Conference & Trade Show
Newton, MA
Website

June 9-10, 2011

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Lessons Learned at the Recent NPDA Annual Leadership Conference

Our recent attendance at the National Private Duty Association event in "Sin City" was truly eye-opening. While hundreds of Home Care professionals gathered to learn how to "Take the Gamble Out of Home Care," we took note of some of the latest industry trends nationally. Among other activity, we saw an increased demand for family and physician portals, as well as increasing popularity of Geriatric Care Managers hired within the home care agency itself.

Las Vegas is a great place to throw a conference, with an average of about 50 shows daily! One other important lesson learned - never again will we take the red-eye flight back East!

Client Spotlight: Reliable Community Care

"We commemorate every 9/11"

Nina Polinsky, president of Reliable Community Care, has much to be grateful for - and she and her staff celebrate their lives and survival every September 11. Located just one block away from Ground Zero, Nina and many of her staff vividly relive the harrowing morning and weeks when all was shaken to its firmament. Though having to relocate for a while, she and her staff all miraculously survived, and deeply and fervently count their blessings.

Started nineteen years ago, Nina's mission for her licensed home care agency rings as true today as it did then: "To treat everyone with respect". This commitment to raising the bar for employees and clients inimitably positions Nina in a rarefied circle of professionals - and one qualified to evaluate the efficiency of her service providers.

Reliable Community Care has been an HHA eXchange client since July 2010, and Nina enthusiastically shares "how accessible" and responsive to her company's needs they are. Particular about the training she provides her staff, she is appreciative of the caliber of training manifested by HHA eXchange... and is currently becoming acquainted with its new Exclusions Lists Checking feature.

Nina is confident, in this less than stellar economic environment, that HHA eXchange will be there for Reliable Community Care, providing the necessary tools she needs to navigate it successfully.

Cuomo and the Medicaid Redesign Team target home care disproportionately; determined to put much of home care into managed care.

While home care has been under the gun to varying degrees in past years, this time it's different. The industry now faces unprecedented funding and structural challenges: an unfunded living wage mandate, new restrictions on eligibility for Managed Medicaid contracts, numerous reimbursement reductions amounting to 36% of the overall cuts while our segment accounts for a much smaller 12% of State Medicaid expenditures, and more. HCP, HCA and other advocate groups continue to valiantly fight the good fight against such proposals - but we all need to play a role. Aptly asserted by HCA President Joanne Cunningham, this latest proposal is "a wholesale gutting of existing home care and care-management infrastructures."

Agencies are bracing for hard times, but hoping the good advocacy work being done by many will allay our worst fears.

Feature Focus: Billing & Pre-Billing

Billing couldn't be easier than with HHA eXchange's industry leading "one-step" invoicing - processing thousands of invoices in a single batch within seconds (you simply choose the date range and payer - the system does the rest). Invoices are submitted electronically or you can have them customized and printed.

Prior to invoicing, a process called "Pre-Billing" is initiated within the system whereby all visits of the current period are checked against compliance rules - those associated with a particular contract or your internal ones. The system in turn displays all visits that would potentially be denied for payment, prompting you to fix them prior to submission.

The system works with major formats such as 837/5, HCFA 1500, UB-04, and major clearinghouses used by insurances, etc..

An integrated Accounts Receivable module provides aging reports, posting of payments, and export to QuickBooks or other financial packages.

Key Benefits Include:

• Drastically reduced time spent processing invoices thanks to streamlined electronic format
• More accurate invoicing and claims, resulting in fewer denials
• Better visibility, accuracy and control of A/R
• Flexible report options and invoice templates
• Shorter reimbursement cycle