2nd Quarter - Colorado HFMA
Transcription
2nd Quarter - Colorado HFMA
The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 1 October 2008 Second Quarter 2008-2009 President’s Message by Larry Dupper, FHFMA We are living in interesting and challenging times. How is your courage level? The next few years may be even more challenging than the past. Your Colorado Chapter of HFMA will continue to be an asset to you and the healthcare services that you work hard to provide. The Great Fall Conference in September was a success with over 90 attendees. The weather was fabulous, and the camaraderie even better. The Certification Coaching Class was well attended with 10 participants. I’m thrilled to report that interest and commitment to becoming certified is high! And we plan to hold another coaching class on April 22, 2009 as part of the Annual Meeting. HFMA certification is a distinguishing accomplishment—nice to have on your resume when times are tough. Inside this Issue President’s Message Golf Tournament Great Fall Conference Market Corrections Chapter Leadership Member Profile New Members Calendar of Events RAC Rollout Annual Sponsors 1 2 4 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 The speakers at the Great Fall Rural Conference were outstanding. Attendance at the final sessions on Friday was impressive at which time participants heard about the RAC experience in California as well as updates and discussion with Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marci Morrison. Special thanks to Stephanie Warth, Shauna Wardrop and the Program Committee for an informative educational session. One of the grand benefits of HFMA is the opportunity to meet people and learn from their experience. The 20th Annual Golf Tournament was exactly one of those experiences. Tim Brainerd organized a great tournament and the opportunity to network. In the process of making new friends, I also gained new ideas to help our hospital become even better. On behalf of all, a huge thanks to Tim (Continued on page 3) The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 2 Jeff Prink, Hal Prink and Scott Gunter await a well-deserved meal after the tournament. Harold Dupper holds the flag to make sure the ball goes in. Larry Dupper checks his team’s score. Chapter holds Annual Golf Tournament Our annual golf tournament was held on September 22nd at The Pinery Golf Course in Parker where 44 golfers participated on a typical Colorado Fall day with wind, sun and threatening storms (which thankfully failed to occur). The good news is everyone had fun and the bad news is no one got a hole in one to claim the Chevy Malibu which was provided by Burt Chevrolet. The winners of the other contests were as follows: First Place – Low score 63 – scramble format Nathan Ingram, Jim Fallon, Paul Webster and Mike Donner Second Place – score 63 (lost in the tie breaker for first) Chris DeBoer, Aaron DeBoer, Ron Kubit and Mark Newman Third place – score 68 Tom McDowell Mike Yont Brad O’Neill Joey Kellum Longest Drive – woman – Kay Hide Longest Drive – man – John Gardner Closest to the Hole – Mike Donner Longest Putt – Jay Behringer A Special Thanks to our Golf Tournament Sponsors! Commerce Bank EKS&H Healthcare Outsourcing Network, LLC Revenue Enterprises, LLC Water Bottles provided by VanGilder Insurance Services Next year’s tournament will be held prior to the Annual Meeting at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort on April 22, 2009. Mark your calendar now for this event as well as the Annual Meeting on April 23-24, 2009 The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 (Continued from page 1) and the sponsors of the tournament. Wow, the December 11th Uninsured Conference sold out within a couple days of its announcement! Hopefully you are one of the lucky ones who signed up in time. This is another example of the fantastic job our Program Committee is doing to provide quality education at an affordable price. You will also want to make plans now to attend the January 22-23 Compliance and Legal Conference in Denver. It is truly a challenge to manage the finances of healthcare, particularly during these uncertain times. It is great to be associated with professionals working together to educate, inform, and support each other as we meet our challenges. With that, I look forward to seeing you at the Uninsured Conference in December! Page 3 The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Tom Murphy presented “Utilizing Scorecards and Benchmarks Successfully” at the Great Fall Conference in GWS. Page 4 Stephanie Warth, Program Co-chair, introduces a speaker at the Great Fall Conference. the AHA in Washington, D.C., provided insight on the latest political and regulatory activities affecting rural hospitals and health th systems. Mark Gilbert, CMS Regional AdThe HFMA Colorado Chapter 7 Annual Great Fall Rural Conference was held at the ministrator in Denver, gave an overview of Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs on Sep- current and upcoming CMS initiatives. Mitch tember 25th and September 26th. The theme Patridge, CEO of CSI Financial Services, discussed the differences between recourse and of this year’s conference was “Connecting non-recourse patient loan programs and how with Leadership: Federal and State Trends in Healthcare.” There were ninety attendees a loan program might benefit a hospital’s patient population. representing providers, health insurance companies, and vendors. The CFO tract hosted John Dowling, Senior, and Tammy Rivera, CPA, from BKD LLP of The meeting kicked-off with an HFMA CertifiColorado Springs, provided updates on the cation Coaching session on Wednesday morning. Larry Dupper, CFO, and Jim Mar- latest accounting and auditing guidelines. Brad O’Neill, VP, Van Gilder Insurance highkuson, Managed Care Director, from Valley lighted the recent insurance benchmarking View Hospital presented an overview of the trends from the Van Gilder/Milliman Colorado certification process followed by questions Employee Benefits survey for liability limits and answers. Eleven people attended the coaching session and two people sat for the and premiums. Luke Zarecor, Owner, and Shar Sheaffer, CPA Senior Manager, from Core Exam in the afternoon. Dingus, Zarecor, and Associates, PLLC covered the new critical access relocation guideAbout 50 attendees gathered at the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company Wednesday lines and the new rules for providers looking evening for a Member Appreciation Network- to acquire an off-campus provider-based clinic or department. ing Reception. Everyone enjoyed hors d’oeurves and cocktails. The Revenue Cycle tract began with Tanya For Thursday’s general sessions, Joanna (Continued on page 5) Hiatt, Senior Associate Director of Policy at CO HFMA’s Great Fall Conference The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 5 (Continued from page 4) Hoagland, Outreach Analyst, WPS Medicare, who reviewed their top ten Medicare claim submission errors. Terri Boettcher, VP, BC Services Collection Agency, examined some of the federal and state FTC, FDCPA, and FCC updates affecting the collection industry. Chris Cruise, VP of Quality Assurance and Training for Cardon Healthcare detailed the numerous public assistance programs and other resources available to patients. The conference concluded on Friday with a general session by Tanya Twist, Director of PFS, Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, CA, who gave a first-hand account of the RAC audit process and its impact on her hospital. Marci Morrison, Insurance Commissioner for the State of Colorado, discussed the new legislation that was approved in the 2008 session and the affect on the Division of Insurance and citizens of Colorado. Conference attendees dance to the music of The Altitones. The Altitones provided the entertainment during the Thursday evening dinner. Who is that Dancing Queen? The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 What You Should Know About Market Corrections Page 6 the additional time would help curb panic selling. Although the securities industry is committed to doing everything in its power to protect inThere is no way around it – markets generally vestors, it cannot prevent market corrections. move in cycles! It is essential for investors to take responsibility for their own investment activity and to While, historically, the stock market has arm themselves with as much knowledge as spent more time on bullish advances than on possible about the risks and potential rebearish retreats – which is why stocks have wards of investing. been considered a good investment over the years – the market also tends to retrench In the 1930s, the Cowles Commission, more than the average investor would like to formed to guide investors through the afterthink about. The traditional definition of a math of the 1929 crash, came up with five bear market is a 20 percent or greater decline essential rules for successful investing, which in stock prices as measured by the Dow are still applicable today: Jones Industrial Average or other relevant index. A full-fledged bear market can persist Invest for the long term. While the stock for many months or, in rare cases, years. market can be risky over the short term, risk Some corrections, on the other hand, are sharp, but brief, lasting only a day or two – such as the Dow’s 500-point drop in October 1987 – or for a few weeks. Sometimes a short, dramatic decline serves as a prelude to a lengthier downturn. The 1929 crash and subsequent three-year bear market, which saw the Dow lose almost 90 percent of its value, illustrates this latter possibility. decreases as your investment time horizon lengthens. A good rule of thumb is that stock and bond investments should be funded with money you won’t need for at least five years. Some investors hope to improve their returns by selling a portion of their holdings just before a correction. Such “market timing” is something that even professional investors find difficult to do well with any consistency and is not recommended for the average inGovernment and securities-industry officials vestor. Aside from the very real difficulty of are constantly learning from their experiences identifying the end of one market phase and with previous declines. Regulations estabthe beginning of a new one, the basic emolished in the wake of the 1929-1932 bear tions of greed and fear work strongly against market have helped prevent another decline those who attempt market timing, constantly of similar magnitude. For example, margin tempting them to overstay their positions in a requirements were raised from 10 percent to bull market and to remain on the sidelines for 50 percent to prevent investors from becom- too long in a bear market. ing excessively leveraged (indebted) the way many were in the months leading up to the Invest systematically. One way to avoid the 1929 crash. timing dilemma is to use a simple strategy More refinements were introduced after the 1987 correction, including our current system of circuit-breakers. In theory, these circuitbreakers would stretch out a decline over several days rather than allow it to gain momentum immediately. The assumption is that called dollar-cost averaging – the practice of investing a fixed amount of money in a particular investment at regular intervals. Because the amount invested remains constant, the investor buys more shares when the price is low and fewer shares when the price is (Continued on page 7) The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 7 high. This means that the average cost per approach this arena with extreme caution share tends to be lower than the average mar- and commit no more than a small percentket value of the investment over the same pe- age of investment capital to it. riod. At the other end of the spectrum are the many companies with histories of consisDollar-cost averaging cannot eliminate the tent sales and earnings growth. Although risks of investing, guarantee a profit or protect nothing is guaranteed in the investment against a loss in declining markets. The sucmarkets, there is a lower probability that cess of the program depends on making regusuch companies will drop off the investment lar purchases through advancing and declining map during a correction. Rather, a correcmarket periods – and on selling when your intion presents investors with the opportunity vestment is worth more than the average price to acquire more shares of historically seayou paid. Since such a plan involves continusoned, financially sound companies at reaous investment in securities, investors should sonable prices. consider their financial ability to continue purchases through periods of low price levels. But Get professional advice. Each investor dollar-cost averaging does offer a disciplined brings a different outlook and level of somethod of investing in the securities markets phistication to the markets. Most investors and lowers the price you have to get to break can benefit from some degree of profeseven. sional input. Whether that means professional research on individual securities, adDiversify investments. When people think vice on asset allocation, or entrusting about investing their money, they probably enmoney to professional portfolio managers, vision themselves comparing the merits of variinvestment professionals are great reous investments. But before they get to that sources for helping investors achieve their step, there is a more basic decision to make: financial goals. asset allocation. Asset allocation is the percentage of investment funds an investor alloParticularly during corrections, it helps to cates among asset classes such as stocks, have a coherent investment strategy fixed income, cash equivalents, and tangiworked out in advance and to be able to bles/real estate. keep that strategy clearly in mind as events unfold. A qualified investment professional The decision is an important one. A study of can help plan a sound investment strategy. large pension funds determined that a pension manager’s allocations among asset classes * Gary P. Brinson, Brian D. Singer, and Gilbert L. Beebower, "Determinants of Portfolio Performance II: An Uphad a far greater long-term effect on returns date," Financial Analysts Journal, May/June 1991. than the individual securities selected.* Of course, asset allocation or investment timing This article was written by Wachovia Securities and provided to you by: cannot eliminate the risk of fluctuating prices Patty DeLucas, CPA, CFP®, Financial Advisor, Wachovia and uncertain returns. Securities, LLC Buy quality. Periodically, investors become enamored with initial public offerings (IPOs). For those who know how to invest in them and understand the risks, IPOs can be an appropriate investment. By definition, however, IPOs involve companies whose stocks are untested in public trading. The average investor should [email protected] Please visit my website: www.home.wachoviasecurities.com/patty.delucas Wachovia Securities is the trade name used by two separate, registered broker-dealers and nonbank affiliates of Wachovia Corporation providing certain retail securities brokerage services: Wachovia Securities, LLC Member, NYSE/SIPC, and Wachovia Securities Financial Network, LLC (WSFN), Member FINRA/SIPC. The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 8 Chapter Leadership Officers President President-Elect Treasurer Assistant Treasurer Secretary Immediate Past President Larry Dupper, FHFMA Judy Griffith Kate McRae Ken Kolb C. Newgren, FHFMA Ann King, CHFP [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 970-384-6605 303-916-9785 303-467-4393 303-996-3397 303-804-8173 303-861-4545 Board of Directors Patti DeLucas Harold Dupper Colleen Faddick Lesley Fagerberg Kay Hide Julie Keegan Tom Nash (CHA) Randy Safady J. Verne Singleton Stephanie Warth Cathy Wolff [email protected] [email protected] 303-637-1001 [email protected] 303-607-3682 [email protected] 719-530-8294 [email protected] 303-813-5114 [email protected] 303-789-8443 [email protected] 720-489-1630 [email protected] 303-804-8135 [email protected] 303-771-0861 [email protected] 970-384-6881 [email protected] 970-848-4611 Office Manager Hal Prink, FHFMA [email protected] 720-277-7813 For a complete listing of Committees and Committee Chairs and Co-chairs, please visit our website at www.co-hfma.org The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 9 Getting to Know Our Members: Ryan Sells Living in Colorado gives us so many choices: Where will we spend a week off in the summer? Do we watch football on a perfect fall afternoon, or record the game and go for a hike? Which ski resort will we visit after a big snowfall? Finding answers to these questions is what keeps life exciting for Ryan and his family. When his two boys were very young, Ryan and his wife Susan bought a pop-up camper, knowing that it would pay huge dividends in life-long memories and quality family time. The boys are now 5 and 7, and the family cherishes every trip, knowing that sports and other activities demand more and more time which will reduce the number of weekend getaways in the future. One of their favorite trips is the annual ‘Peach Trek’. Over five years the trip has grown to eight families who spend a long weekend camping, fishing, hiking and relaxing on the western slope. The highlight of the weekend is the day in Palisade, visiting familyowned orchards to buy boxes of peaches and stopping for wine tastings at the local vineyards. Ryan grew up in Colorado, and met his future wife at Bear Creek High School. They both attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, and both majored in accounting. They got married after graduating from college, and celebrated their 14th anniversary this summer. Besides camping, the family enjoys skiing, biking, traveling, and cheering on the local sports teams. Two years ago, Ryan became a certified Scuba diver, and is always looking towards his next diving adventure. “I’m amazed every time I go below the surface of the ocean; it’s a whole other world of plant and animal life down there. There are colors that you just don’t see on land.” His dive trips have included St. Lucia, Maui and Jamaica. them get set up with all of the necessities – food, clothing, social security numbers, driver’s licenses, medical appointments, registering for school, etc. Immigration to the U.S. probably saved their lives, and the experience had a big impact on our lives as well. It certainly gave us an appreciation for some of the privileges and blessings that we might otherwise have taken for granted.” When he isn’t pursuing one of his outside interests, Ryan loves his work as a principal at the CPA firm of EKS&H, working primarily with healthcare providers and nonprofit organizations. Although he had a brief taste of the private sector right out of school, he thrives on the variety of people, clients and challenges that public accounting offers. He became a member of HFMA two years ago. “The Colorado healthcare community is a close community, and I really enjoy the friendly atmosphere,” Ryan says. As far as someone who’s had influence on him within the healthcare community: “I’d have to say Nancy Foster at University Physicians, Inc. She gave me my first job out of school – I’ll always be thankful for that first job opportunity.” It was Ryan’s first experience in the healthcare industry, which has grown to be a very satisfying career. He also volunteers his time as a board member and audit committee chair of the Girl Scouts of Colorado, and as a member of the finance committee of the Colorado Nonprofit Association. Ryan and his wife try hard to instill a spirit of giving and volunteerism in their boys. The Sells family and a group of friends from their church work together to find different opportunities to reach out to people in the community. One of the most interesting activities was adopting a family of refugees from Ukraine in a year-long program through Lutheran Family Services. “We literally Ryan looks forward to a future of working with met them at the gate when they got off the plane. clients, helping people, and of course, enjoying We showed them to their apartment, and helped the great Colorado outdoors. The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 10 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! George Behringer, Strategic Relationship Manager, Deloitte Rebecca Chance-Smith, Director Patient Access, Memorial Hospital Kathy Cleator, Communications Manager, Valley View Hospital Jeffrey Cole, Director HIM/Billing, Vail Valley Medical Center Daniel Coleman, Administrator, USAF Chris David, Manager, RGL, Inc. Christopher Debeer, Managing Director, Percentix, Inc. Shannon Doyle, President, Montane Group, Inc. Jeff Elliot, Elliot Freelance Stefany Friar, Director of Payer Relations, Kelson Physician Partners Tijuana Gomez, Senior Manager PBS, Kaiser Permanente Sherylynn Hoffman, Manager PFS, Poudre Valley Health System Shirley Holt, Chief Financial Officer, Estes Park Medical Center Kirk Kaynor, Vice President—Regional Director Business Development—Recondo Technology Matthew Kelly, Revenue Reimbursement Supervisor, Poudre Valley Health System Darrin Lee, Director, Healthcare, Echelon Marketing Lisa Mack, Revenue Cycle Director, Valley View Hospital Brian McCarthy, Sales Director, RelayHealth James Mckee, President, United Resource Systems, Inc. Sarah Miller, Manager of Contracting, Vail Valley Medical Center Todd Mohr, Managing Director, Fti Consulting Lori Nowitzki, Director PFS, Kaiser Permanente Barbara Padgett, Training and Education Manager, Valley View Hospital Daniel Petersen, VHA Performance Consulting Rebecca Phelps, Director, McKesson Provider Technologies Stephanie Quance, Assistant District Manager, Chamberlin Edmonds Jim Rentz, Patient Access Supervisor, Poudre Valley Health System Adam Romney, Attorney, Caplan & Earnest, LLC Steven Sevcik, Vice President—Finance, Pronerve, LLC Jill Smith, District Manager Chamberlin Edmonds Doris Suposs, Staff Accountant, Poudre Valley Health System Oralia Valadez, Manager, Billing/Collections, Valley View Hospital Kimberly Wade, Business Applications Analyst, University of Colorado Hospital Matthew Weber, Partner, Holland & Hart, LLP Hirut Yitayew, Business Applications Analyst, University of Colorado Hospital The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 11 2008 – 2009 CALENDAR OF EVENTS December 11 …………………… …… Annual Uninsured Conference The Children’s Hospital, Aurora, CO January 22-23 …………………………… Compliance/Law Conference Sheraton Four Points, Denver February 25-27 ………………………… Region 10 Conference, Renaissance Hotel, Phoenix, AX April 22…………………………………… Annual Golf Tournament Cheyenne Mountain Resort, CO Springs, CO April 22-24 ……………………………… Annual Meeting Cheyenne Mountain Resort, CO Springs, CO Watch for announcements about upcoming Webinars in Healthcare Finance Hot Topics! The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 CMS announces revised timeline for RAC rollout and contingency fees released Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Financial Management Director Tim Hill announced in September a revised timeline for the nationwide rollout of the permanent recovery audit contractor program or RACs. On October 6, the four contractors were named: Region A – Diversified Collection Services Inc. – ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, NY Region B – CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc. – MI, IN, MN Region C – Connolly Consulting Associates Inc. – SC, FL, CO, NM Region D – HealthDataInsight’s Inc. – MT, WY, ND, SD, UT, AZ Page 12 CMS announces revised timeline for RAC rollout and contingency fees released Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Financial Management Director Tim Hill announced in September a revised timeline for the nationwide rollout of the permanent recovery audit contractor program or RACs. On October 6, the four contractors were named: Region A – Diversified Collection Services Inc. – ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, NY Region B – CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc. – MI, IN, MN Region C – Connolly Consulting Associates Inc. – SC, FL, CO, NM Region D – HealthDataInsight’s Inc. – MT, WY, ND, SD, UT, AZ Recovery audit contractors will earn contingency fees ranging from 9.0% to 12.5% of the payments they collect from health care providers in the permanent RAC program, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services The Bottom Line Second Quarter 2008-2009 Page 13 2008-2009 COLORADO HFMA ANNUAL SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM MEMBERS PLATINUM SPONSORS BC Services ● Chase Bank ● EKS&H Faegre & Benson ● Healthcare Outsourcing Network, LLC GOLD SPONSORS BKD, LLP ● Cleverly & Associates ● Holland & Hart Holme, Roberts & Owen, LLP ● Kreg Information Systems REDW The Rogoff Firm ● Revenue Enterprises, LLC ● The SSI Group SILVER SPONSORS Bank of America ● Caplan & Earnest ● Colorado Health Facilities Authority ● Commerce Bank Data Systems Group ● Emdeon Business Services ● Ernst and Young, LLP Integrated Health Management Services ● Key Bank ● Marsh and Company RSM McGladney ● Wells Fargo BRONZE SPONSOR KPMG ● MedAssist ● MediRegs Editors’ Note: The Bottom Line is published quarterly and provides general information for the entire Colorado HFMA Chapter. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Chapter and its members. It is not designed to provide authoritative advice. Please consult with an appropriate expert if issues confront your business. Members are encouraged to submit articles or other information. Articles may be edited for clarity, grammar, and length. The editors reserve the right to accept or reject any submission. Information to be considered for publication may be submitted to: Scott Gunter: [email protected] Christine Newgren: [email protected]