Main Conference: Tuesday, June 23, 2009
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Keynote: The Latest Trends in Pain Management Today
Devona Slater, President, Auditing for Compliance and Education
Kick off the conference with a comprehensive overview of some of the most important issues facing pain management practices today. Devona Slater, a top expert on pain management, discusses profitability of pain management practices, new coding trends and compliance challenges.
10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Refreshment & Networking Break
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 p.m.
Boost Your Revenue with New Incentive Programs
Marvel Hammer, President, MJH Consulting
The Medicare budget for pain management tightens more and more every year. Learn new incentives that you can implement in your practice to increase revenue by up to 4% this year. Marvel Hammer gives you a step-by-step guide to implement an e-prescribing program successfully in your practice. Plus, learn which PQRI measures yield the biggest dollars for pain practices and how to report them properly.
11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Networking Lunch
1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Facet Joint Injections: High Risks, Missed Revenue
Joanne Mehmert, President, Mehmert & Associates
More than 60% of facet joint injection procedures are misbilled, resulting in approximately $96 million in improper payments! The OIG recently announced this astounding statistic – but they also revealed that pain coders under-bill when deciding whether to bill on multiple levels or bilaterally. Make sure your practice is receiving correct and appropriate payments for facet joint injections every time, as we teach you to code correctly.
2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Tricky Situations That Put Your Compliance Plan to the Test
Vicki Myckowiak, Principal, Myckowiak Associates
Secure your practice’s financial safety by testing your compliance plan. Advanced compliance issues: We’ll show you to test tricky HIPAA complaints to avoid triggering audits; employee background checks to ensure that all privacy requirements are met; and the pitfalls of prescribing narcotics to ward off unwanted attention from the DEA. You’ll return to your practice with some practical lessons on staying compliant, avoiding costly and time consuming audits, and steering clear of government scrutiny that could be financially and legally hazardous to your practice.
3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Refreshment & Networking Break
4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Prevent Denials and Resubmit Claims Successfully Using CCI
Debbie Farmer, CPC ACS-AN, Compliance Auditor, Auditing for Compliance and Education
Pain practices are off to a heavy Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) change burden – 220 changes took effect January 1, nearly equal to the 249 changes throughout all of 2008. Discover what is needed to decrease denials and improve your practice’s efficiency by correctly recognizing code bundles. Debbie Farmer walks you through pain-specific National Correct Coding Initiative bundling edits and takes you step-by-step through appropriate assignment of modifiers to prevent the denials that bog down your practice’s cash-flow.
