Modifiers

Have you ever been entering charges, only to see this warning pop up?

If you are entering charges and enter a modifier that is not on the Standard Modifier List, Rexpert will give you a warning popup in case you mistyped or were mistaken. But then when you click OK, the warning will disappear and the charge will save as normal, rather than making you change the modifier before saving. Why?

Rexpert has built-in features to catch typos, errors, and omissions before they ever get saved, but in the case of modifiers the situation is a little more complex. There is a Standard Modifier List, but sometimes the correct modifier for a charge is one that's not on the list. This is because while CMS keeps a list of modifiers acceptable for Medicare, other insurance companies may have their own additional modifiers or different regulations for how to use a modifier. If you take into account all the insurance companies there are and the vast opportunity for situations requiring a modifier (anesthesia, mental health, dental, etc.), it's easy to see how the modifier list could soon have thousands of entries.

The long and short of it is that the best way to ensure accuracy is not for Rexpert to bar you from entering modifiers that are not on the standard list, but to simply prompt you to reexamine your modifier to make sure that YOU know it's right.

Written by Laura Rowe

Meaningful Use Updates

Meaningful Use for 2015 is being streamlined. Rather than some providers reporting on Stage 1 and some providers reporting on Stage 2, and complicated rules regarding who can report on what, everyone will now be required to report the same measures. CMS has put together a Modified Stage 2, with requirements that are accessible to everybody, even those new to Meaningful Use.

The reporting period is being cut from a year to 90 days -- Eligible Providers may choose any consecutive 90 day period starting on or after January 1st, 2015, and ending on or before December 31st, 2015. 

In addition, the number of measures required to report on is being cut to 10 objectives: 

• Protect Patient Health Information
• Clinical Decision Support (one rule for Stage 1, five interventions for Stage 2)
• Electronic Prescribing
• Public Health Reporting
• Computerized Provider Order Entry (medications)
• Computerized Provider Order Entry (laboratory and radiology)
• Health Information Exchange
• Patient Specific Education
• Medication Reconciliation
• Patient Electronic Access (VDT)
• Secure Messaging

These are all either previously required or a combination of previously required measures. Providers who had been planning to attest to Stage 1 may be excluded from any measures that were not required for Stage 1, namely the measures listed in green above.

Providers who had been planning to attest to Stage 2 will find the requirements to be a simplified version of what they were already preparing to meet. The new objectives focus on advanced use of EHR technology, cutting out redundant and outdated measures and simplifying requirements.  

Reporting under the new guidelines will be very simple for AuroraEHR users -- the Meaningful Use Reports screen will feature the measures required for everybody and only those measures, making running the report a snap.

Written by Laura Rowe