Azalea Health Innovations Friends Newsletter – September 2010
IN THIS ISSUE
* Welcome
* Billing Tip: Timely Filing Changes for Medicare
* Hurricane Preparedness
* Meaningful Use
* New Features
* New AHI satellite office
* Upcoming Events
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Welcome
Greetings to all of our Azalea Health Innovations friends and thank you for reading our newsletter. We hope all of our readers had a wonderful summer and wish you all a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!
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Billing Tip: Timely Filing Changes for Medicare
President Obama recently signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). One of the previsions of this act was to amend the time period allowed for filing of Medicare fee for service claims. Under the new rule which became effective for services provided January 1 2010 and later, providers now have one calendar year from the date of service to file a clean claim. Previously providers had up to 15 months to file clean claims. Please be sure your practice or organization is aware of this change as it will affect providers nationwide. Here is a break down of the filing deadlines based on dates of service:
• Claims with dates of service prior to October 1, 2009 will be subject to pre-ACA timely filing rules and associated edits;
• Claims with dates of service October 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 received after December 31, 2010 will be denied as being past the timely filing deadline; and
• Claims with dates of service January 1, 2010 and later received more than one calendar year beyond the date of service will be denied as being past the timely filing deadline.
Click Here to view the MLN Matters Article from Medicare in its entirety.
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Hurricane Preparedness
Hurricane season has arrived! During this time of the year it is even more important to remember to take proper precautions and be prepared. Should a storm ever be of threat to your practice, you do not want to lose all of your valuable digital data (i.e. EMR, PMS, and any other documents) because your office was not properly prepared. Remember to always back up your digital data and to make sure that all data is stored remotely. Have surge protectors and battery/power back-ups for all servers and computers at your office. It is also important to come up with a contingency plan, such as who to call and what to do, to ensure less down time for your practice in case of flooding or any other destruction due to the storm. For more information on hurricane preparedness visit http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/ .
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Meaningful Use
There is so much misinformation is out there about “MEANINGFUL USE”. As it stands now, no one meets the meaningful use criteria. Why? Because ONC has not decided who the certifying body/bodies will be yet. If an EMR sales representative advises you that they are certified ‘Meaningful Use”, ask them which ONC certified body they got their certification from. CCHIT is not an ONC authorized body, because no one is! It appears there will be plenty of competition as an EMR certification body. Out of the 30 applications sent to requesting organizations, ONC reports that it has received only six or seven completed applications. Multiple certification bodies means more price competition and quicker certification, which of course benefits the vendors and ultimately the end-users as well.
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New Features
If you haven’t already checked out our August New Features email, please note that eleven new features were added to both Azalea QuickBill and Azalea LabHub combined just last month. We want to make sure that all of our clients are utilizing our software to their fullest potential, so for those of you who may have missed the August New Features email, click on the following link to view the the many new features that were added to Azalea QuickBill and Azalea LabHub. http://www.azaleahealth.com/newsletters/new_features_blast_201008.php
In addition, please remember that as always we are working to keep our software as update and user friendly as possible, so don’t forget to look out tomorrow for September’s New Feature email to see the newest additions to our software products!
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New AHI satellite office is open!
Azalea Health Innovations is pleased to announce the expansion of the company with a new satellite office located in Savannah, Georgia! Savannah is currently home to over 600 physicians and surgeons, as well as two major hospital systems. The region is an abundant health care market, and Azalea Health will look to serve this sector by continuing to provide quality products and services.
Please follow this link to read the full press release on AHI’s newest location: Azalea Health-Savannah Press Release
AHI-Savannah is located at 5223 Paulsen St., Suite B, Savannah, GA 31405 and can be reached by phone at (912) 228-5882.
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Upcoming Events
AHI will be exhibiting at the MGMA (Medical Group Management Association) 2010 Conference. This event is being held at the Ernest N. Memorial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA, on October 24th-27th, 2010.
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Thank you!
Azalea Health Innovations, Inc.
100 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31601
Toll Free: 877-777-7686
Local: 229-269-4620
Toll Free Fax: 866-683-8679
Web: http://www.AzaleaHealth.com
Email: info@azaleahealth.com
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