Prime Care Technologies wishes you a Happy New Year. I once had a boss whose mantra was, “All problems can be viewed as opportunities.” That being the case, then 2012 should be an amazing year of opportunities for business in general and long term care specifically. I encourage you to look at all of your “opportunities” and to explore how IT can help you convert those opportunities into gains.

Over the last several months, this blog has covered topics focusing on various aspects of IT and its impact on long term care. In our Thanksgiving Day blog, we observed how important IT has become to all of us – in how we work, how we communicate, how we entertain, how we educate, how we conduct business; IT is everywhere. Although slow in adopting technology, LTC providers have made significant progress in understanding, valuing, and embracing IT as a powerful tool to meet ever-changing challenges. For example, twice we demonstrated this fact as we momentarily digressed from IT-specific topics to alert readers about changes to billing therapy services to Medicare and avoiding workforce-related lawsuits.

A recent article in the Nashville Post cited a lawsuit filed against a local nursing home by a former employee over lunch break pay policies. But, what does this have to do with IT?

I know it’s late in the day and many of you are already heading to your turkey feast destination or making last-minute preparations, but I think expressing gratitude is never too late - or too early for that matter. First, if not for the vision, talent, dedication, and hard work of so many, we would not enjoy the explosion of opportunities that information technology offers us. Whether it’s for entertainment, checking on one’s health, mining data, checking on the weather or road conditions, tracking finances, operating a business, promoting ideas, products, and services, or just meeting or reconnecting with friends, IT is everywhere. Some may argue that IT may have complicated our lives, but in the long run, our lives, our play, our work, even our worship have been positively impacted and enriched. For this, we should be very grateful.

Billing Medicare Part A for Ancillary Therapy Services - a change in what units represent

Focusing on Medicare’s coverage and payment for ancillary therapy services, Transmittal 2239 (CMS Manual, Pub 100-04 Medicare Claims Processing, issued June 14, 2011, Billing SNF PPS Services, 30.4 - Coding PPS Bills for Ancillary Services) states, effective August 1, 2011, “For therapy services, that is revenue codes 042x, 043x, and 044x, units represent the number of calendar days of therapy provided.  For example, if the beneficiary received physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology on May 1, that would be considered one calendar day and would be billed as one unit.” (Italics added.)

In the Spring of this year, I used baseball as a metaphor for the “game of Long Term Care.” At that time I said that providers were “going to have to step up to the plate and respond swiftly and powerfully to the curve balls of regulatory changes, the sliders of reimbursement, the change-ups of market pressures, and the fast balls of competition.” Little did I know at the time that the term, “sliders of reimbursement,” was going to be uncomfortably prophetic. Because of the drastic “adjustments” to Medicare reimbursement and declining Medicaid rates, the slider is real – a potential slide downhill, that is; they’re game changers. I would like to take the baseball metaphor one swing further.

Personal productivity devices, such as desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablet PCs, and the data they generate and retrieve have contributed to a wealth of information and…risks for Long Term Care. If Information Technology (IT) managers are unable to monitor, manage, and protect productivity devices, software distribution, and how information is exchanged and filed, providers run a considerable risk of data loss, non-compliance, and potentially fatally damaging their operations. Implementing sound hardware and data management practices is the responsibility of all providers. IT Asset Management (ITAM) embraces the technology and best practices that can help IT Managers with this critical task.

I argue that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) do not represent a health care delivery revolution, but an evolution. Based on my experience in LTC and what I’ve been reading on the Internet, ACOs appear to be an evolutionary variant of the species known as HMOs. Regardless, ACOs represent a significant change to health care delivery. The ACO model will have a sweeping impact on how health care is planned for, delivered, documented, reported, and paid for. It follows that for an ACO to work, information technology serves as the glue that holds it together; those providers who have successfully worked with HMOs can attest to the critical role IT plays. Participation as ACO members will require providers to carefully evaluate what such participation will have on their respective IT systems.

It’s that time of year again.
In 2011, the desolation and loss of life in the wake of the massive tornados in Joplin, MO, in Tuscaloosa, AL, and other states have captured the attention of LTC providers across the country with the realization that disasters can strike anywhere, at anytime. They recognize the need for a real-world, workable, and well-rehearsed disaster preparedness and recovery plan that at least minimizes, if not prevents, injury and loss of life during and after a disaster.

How the Cloud can help you meet today’s opportunities more rapidly

OK. So what is “the cloud?” In general, cloud computing refers to anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. Because the cloud symbol has been used for a long time in flowcharts and diagrams to represent the Internet, the use of the term, “cloud computing,” is logical. So what’s the recent buzz about cloud computing - especially for health care providers?