Monthly Archives: April 2020

Earn from Medicare’s Chronic Care Management Program! CCM made simple!

Chronic Care Management Services are delivered to Medicare beneficiaries with two or more chronic conditions with a goal of improving health and quality of care for high-need patients. As population ages, FQHCs, RHCs, ACOs, Hospitals, individual practitioners, etc. face the daunting challenge of improving quality of care for chronically ill patients while containing costs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says about 93% of total Medicare spending is on beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions. Research has shown that highly fragmented care for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions are more likely to present in emergency rooms, and be admitted than others.

In spite of the need for proactive care for Chronic Care Management Patients, a lot of the providers are still underutilizing this benefit. There are several reasons why providers like FQHCs, RHCs, ACOs, Hospitals, individual practitioners, etc. have chosen to leave it on the table.

Complicated Process:

There are several rules physicians and practices have to follow in order to qualify for CCM reimbursement. CMS has set rules right from enrolling Medicare patients up to the necessary documents that have to be furnished for CCM reimbursement. Other mandatory requirements include providers offering CCM service, should have access to patient’s health records, provide 24/7 access to care, provide care plans, and patients be able to reach providers to meet urgent care needs.

Time Consuming and involves additional costs:

Many providers feel offering CCM service is a time-consuming effort, and requires additional staffing. They find it difficult to document each of these and also provide quality care for their patients. Providers feel there is an increased administrative burden to managing and tracking CCM services, and it also involves additional cost.

Patients Consent:

Providers must identify Medicare eligible patients, explain CCM services and get consent to enroll the patient and start the service. Providers must explain the required information in detail where the patient can either accept or decline the service. 

Wait and See Approach:

Providers  want to first see if the approach is effective before deciding to opt for it. Many providers and physicians wait to see if other providers who opted to provide the service have success with reimbursement before committing to participation in the program.

HealthViewX makes Chronic Care Management process easier with the below features and makes reimbursement simple:

Automated Documentation for CMS Auditing

HealthViewX automates and streamlines the end-to-end CCM process. Integrates with softphones to accurately record the time spent on each call. It easily helps generate reports as per CMS requirements. 

Comprehensive Care Plan

Structured care plans are essential to help organize coordination of actions for proper patient progression and self-management. The solution helps create condition-specific, personalized and comprehensive care plans for each patient including tasks and goals for both the patient and care coordinator track for better care coordination. Simplifies and streamlines workflow to guide tele-nurses in creating care plans. 

HIPAA Compliant

HealthViewX CCM follows HIPAA compliance requirements and guidelines. The solution lets you define the access, have user-specific access conditions, and provides secure access to patient records.

Analytics and Dashboard

Gives detailed actionable insights for better care coordination. Data can be visually represented and users can gather detailed information by clicking the desired data. The dashboard also displays the follow-up reminders that can be set-up by the user against each patient.

Take this simple step to improve health outcomes and reduce costs for patients with multiple chronic care conditions.

Schedule a demo and talk to HealthViewX Solution experts today to discuss the CCM solution. Or simply outsource your CCM services. HealthViewX also provides end-to-end CCM services through our network of seasoned RNs and CMAs that enable you to increase your monthly reimbursements without incurring any additional cost of hiring additional staff or investing in technology solutions.

Understanding the scope of Chronic Care Management and what is required to make it profitable

Approximately 71% of the total healthcare spend in the United States is associated with care for Americans with more than one chronic condition. Among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, people with multiple chronic conditions account for 93% of total Medicare spending.

It is said that a large percentage of these expenses are associated with acute care and emergency visits that could be prevented by earlier intervention. Patients who have multiple chronic conditions require ongoing medical attention. Putting further emphasis on health programs with an eye towards preventing and controlling chronic disease is one of the ways to address such costs.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recognizes Chronic Care Management (CCM) as a critical component of primary care that contributes to better health and care for individuals.

What Physicians need to understand?

Medicare’s Chronic Care Management program has a primary clinical goal which is improving the health of Medicare patients with two or more chronic conditions expected to last at least 12 months or until the death of the patient, and who are at significant risk of death, acute exacerbation/decompensation, or functional decline. In addition to understanding the service-level parameters, pay levels, CCM codes.

PCP’s and other health organizations who provide CCM services need to understand how to effectively bill for CCM in order to profitably achieve that goal.

Some of the basic preconditions that providers must satisfy are:

  • the provider is required to complete an initial face-to-face visit
  • obtain verbal or written consent from the patient, and  develop a comprehensive care plan in the electronic health record
  • provide 24/7 access to care
  • use a certified EHR to aggregate all patient health information
  • establish continuity through a designated care team member who works with the patient to implement a dynamic plan that spells out the patient’s key prevention and treatment goals and strategies

Who all can provide CCM services?

Additionally to physician offices, Chronic Care Management Services can be provided by

  • Federally Qualified Health Centers
  • Rural Health Clinics
  • Critical Access Hospitals

And the following healthcare professionals can bill for CCM services

  • Physicians
  • Physician Assistants
  • Nurse Practitioners
  • Certified Nurse-Midwives
  • Clinical Nurse Specialists

Non-physicians must legally be authorized and qualified to provide CCM in the state in which the services are furnished.

Why provide Chronic Care Management Services?

It benefits both providers and patients. Patients will receive better-coordinated care thereby preventing hospitalization and re-admissions. Providers will not only receive payments for providing care but also improve practice efficiency, compliance, patient satisfaction, and health outcomes. Practices, large providers, and health systems can add net new recurring monthly revenue. 

How do physicians and other providers document the CCM services that are provided?

Some practices do the tracking manually, while some of the practices have CCM documentation built into their EHR’s. Other practices implement specialized CCM software to track time and ensure all the CCM requirements are met. Some of the CCM software has the ability to track not only the documentation but also send reminders or notifications to the patient, provider and other healthcare professionals involved in patient care. 

How to make CCM profitable?

Chronic care management requires 24/7 access to care. Practices take different approaches to meet this requirement to provide better care coordination. Some practices hire additional staff and some opt for a solution to automate the end-to-end process to cut down on additional staff expenses. Considering healthcare IT will not only cut down on additional expenses but will also make CCM more effective and efficient.

Talk to HealthViewX solution experts to understand more about HealthViewX CCM solution and make your CCM profitable. 

Learn how the COVID-19 pandemic is transforming healthcare with technology

The COVID-19 pandemic and its global sweep is scaling exponentially across the globe. We are witnessing that health systems across some of the COVID-19 affected countries are stretching beyond their ability to handle this pandemic. The affected countries have geared up and are urgently scaling-up aggressive measures to tackle the disease and combat COVID-19.

Unfortunately, even some large health systems in developed countries are designed to handle regular patient loads and not pandemics. The international community has asked for US$675 million to help protect states with weaker health systems as part of its Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. Right from mid-March till the first week of April, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled.  Patients with an extreme disease from COVID-19 need average respiratory support of approximately 13 days and the number of new patients that can be accommodated during this prolonged outbreak is really low.

The rapid growth of cases can alter a public health emergency into an operational crisis if containment flops. Proper planning and response will require multidisciplinary effort from physicians, healthcare professionals, nurses, respiratory specialists, supply chain, pharmacists, etc. 

Here’s how technology is helping through its virtual care potential and other advancements

Healthcare workers on the front lines are overwhelmed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The number of calls they receive from patients who want to talk to their respective physicians about COVID 19 symptoms is unimaginably high. As a result, health systems are suggesting their patients to use self-triaging tools to check for the COVID-19 symptoms before putting them through to their doctors. Chatbot’s have also been reconfigured with FAQ’s and assessment related to Coronavirus symptoms. 

The current COVID 19 outbreak scenario is terrifying and the major concern for many of us throughout the world.  Due to the sudden spike, patients triaged for COVID-19 should wait long in a virtual queue. During this long wait patients get frustrated and impatient, and also puts many patients in a state of panic and anxiety.  In one of the articles it is stated that the number of virtual visits have gone 10-15 times more after the COVID-19 outbreak. 

This insists on the need for health systems to standardize and streamline processes eventually to handle intake volumes and have the technology in place to manage such pandemics efficiently. It is said since the COVID-19 outbreak Telehealth visits/usage has increased by approximately 500% in the last few weeks. While some of the health systems have already successfully adapted to new healthcare technologies there are still plenty out there who have not thought about it yet.

It is time for health systems to realize, the power and potential of Telehealth, bring it into the mainstream and take it at one stroke to transform care delivery. Likewise, remote patient monitoring is also equally important to monitor chronic conditions patients and patients who are at high risk or suspected of contracting the virus during such pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be a turning point as we look at the future of healthcare across time horizons, how we live and work, and perhaps the planet’s future. During such situations, a certain degree of reprioritization is needed to speed-up the digital transformation of healthcare delivery.

Mainstreaming of Telehealth

Telehealth is on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HealthViewX platform supports patient-to-provider, provider-to-provider and multi-party collaboration from the onset of a condition. The platform supports both audio and video calling, and live-chats along with document transfer. Allows patients to join from any device like mobile, laptop, tabs, etc. It enables healthcare organizations to customize Telehealth experience for providers and patients, thereby enhancing the quality of patient care, raising patient engagement and improving patient experience and health outcomes.

For further customization, the platform engine helps build digital tools and platforms on-the-fly with no-code or low-code to orchestrate care journeys and facilitates transitioning to value-based care. The current system definitely needs to adapt to modern healthcare technology.  

Talk to us to understand more about healthcare technology advancements.