Dear EMS Professional,
The OIG recognizes the importance of maintaining a positive and interactive communication between billing companies and the providers they service. Compliance is and always has been of the utmost importance. EMS is difficult. It carries a lot of liability and emphasis has been placed on the fact that you cannot hide behind your billing company. Documentation begins with you and it is an intricate part of “patient care”. You do not want to bill a patient because there was inappropriate documentation.
Presently, there are a lot of audits and investigations being conducted based on data collected from the carriers and the Office of the Inspector General of Health and Human Services. One of the items that can trigger an audit may be an unusually high rate of ALS versus BLS transports in comparison to national percentages. The top ten SCT providers in an area have been targeted. A strong focus in 2018 will be on claims sent to Medicare Part B when the patient is a Part A stay. This is something your call intake person should determine or the squad should ask the question at the facility. As always, patient signatures and PCS (physician certification forms) are a high-risk area for audits.
In an effort to best educate all of our clients regarding agency documentation practices and responsibilities, MCA has formed an alliance with Maggie Adams of EMS Financial Services. Formerly a senior consultant with Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, Maggie has over 20 years of experience as a key contributor in developing and delivering educational training for EMS throughout the nation. You will find a link below to participate via webinar in one of Maggie’s prerecorded documentation training sessions. You will also find a printout attached to this email to hand out to your staff. MCA highly recommends that this be mandatory training for all staff members at your agency.
When you use the link provided (below), you will fill in some information and the time you spend watching it will be logged. The same will be true of your crew members. This should be helpful in providing you a record of who viewed the material.
Training link: https://attendee.gototraining.com/96df3/recording/9067510057348751618
You can download the handout at the link below.
MCA Documentation Essentials Handout
Please be sure to contact MCA directly with any questions, comments or concerns related to this message.
Tara G. Vosler, CEO