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MIPPA accreditation requirements are coming. Are you ready?

Well, the sun is setting on Phoenix and I’m checking in from the Sky Harbor airport just a few minutes before my flight back to LA. But never fear! Thanks to the miracle of mobile broadband, I can bring you one last update from the show. And it’s a doozy: Leonard Lucey, JD, legal counsel for the ACR, on the new accreditation requirements created by MIPPA.

First, a lesson in recent history. MIPPA was passed by the House of Representatives in July 2008, after a presidential veto; the legislation was primarily created to extend expiring Medicare provisions. But, as Lucey points out, the bill also includes the words “for other purposes,” and it turns out one of those other purposes is imaging accreditation. Though the imaging provisions of the bill total only 40 pages out of a whopping 1100, they still pack a considerable punch.

ACR economic update

At last, the moment you’ve all been waiting for — the ACR’s economic update, delivered by Maurine S. Dennis, MPH, MBA, director of economics and government relations at the ACR. The room was packed with eager attendees as Dennis began her presentation on the expected pessimistic note. (Is it just me, or has the theme of this RBMA meeting been mordant pessimism?) Dennis illustrated the reimbursement forecast simply: a big orange arrow pointing down. The assembled audience laughed, of course, but I got the sense it was a laugh-so-you-don’t-weep situation.

Performance management: the other stimulus plan

There’s been a lot of talk here at RBMA about “performance improvement,” those two magical words that, according to many, are the key to unlocking your business’ full potential. But how exactly is performance measured, benchmarked and managed? On hand to answer that question this morning was Fred Downs, practice administrator at Diagnostic Imaging Specialists in Atlanta, Georgia.

Over the years, DIS’ performance plan has evolved from a “capital punishment” model to a “performance improvement” model. In the capital punishment model, qualifying events and behaviors for termination were enumerated, but feedback on performance was absent, and there was no organized mechanism for dealing with issues.

Wanting to deal with these problems, DIS went to a production model of performance, with poor results. “My personal favorite was, ‘I don’t believe in the RVU system,’” Downs recalled. People argued that the problems weren’t on their end, or that they worked hard enough. Over time, there was little change in staff behavior.

The goal evolved. “What if we redefined what performance was?” Downs asked.

Imaging Center Roundtable, part 2

More from the Imaging Center Roundtable, with nurse navigators, integrated women’s imaging, patient-centric marketing and more after the jump!

Imaging Center Roundtable, part 1

I’m here in room 1 of the Imaging Center Roundtable (so popular they had to give it two rooms!). The objectives of the discussion are giving people the opportunity to share their wisdom on submitted questions, relying on the “collective brainpower of the room.”

In order, I’ll relate the submitted questions and some of the answers. Preauth, Stark, technical service agreements and much much more, after the jump . . .

Pay attention, or success strategies for a challenging economy

At this morning’s general session, Dave Jakielo, former president of HBMA, took the mic to discuss success strategies in a challenging health care economy. It was a little more doom and gloom for a group of folks who’ve already heard a lot of it here in Phoenix. Which makes Jakielo’s advice both prescient and hard to swallow: stay positive and pay attention.

Rep John Shadegg on health care reform

A funny thing happened on the way to the ACR Economic Update. For those not in the know, this afternoon’s session by Maurine Dennis — to be repeated again tomorrow at 2 p.m., which I’ll definitely be attending so I can keep you all up to speed on their valuable intel — was preempted by the arrival of surprise speaker Rep John Shadegg (R-Ariz), a longtime advocate for physicians and member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, who delivered an update on what’s happening with health care reform. There had been rumors that Rep Shadegg might make an appearance, and I was so delighted at the opportunity to bring you all inside the session with me that I took down his speech to the assembled group as close to verbatim as I could.

Depending on which side of the political divide you stand on, his remarks have an equal chance of inspiring you or enraging you. Either way, though, they represent a valuable inside look at the number-one policy issue facing America today. I also took notes on a few attendees’ questions, as well as Shadegg’s answers, all after the jump.

Paradox and imperatives in health care

Intrigued by Dr. Bauer’s words earlier today? So was I. That’s why I decided to drop in on his afternoon session, “Paradox and Imperatives in Health Care: Effectiveness, Efficiency and e-Transformation.”

Bauer dropped more than a couple of jaws in this morning’s general session when he forecasted a slim 30% chance that some form of health care reform legislation will pass. Those jaws were dragging on the floor when he suggested that radiology, already a beleaguered sector of medicine by anyone’s standards, needs to take the initiative in enacting measures that will improve efficiency and quality of care.

So: how does he imagine the grassroots revolution playing out? What can we do?

RBMA Conference in Phoenix

I’m here on the scene at the RBMA fall educational conference in lovely Phoenix, bringing you coverage of the meeting’s sessions as well as any exciting intelligence I pick up on my rounds. Keep checking back over the next couple of days for more from the show, and if there’s a particular session you’d like to see covered or question you’d like answered, drop me a line via the comments so I can bring you the news you’re looking for!

http://rbma.org/conferences/fall_educational_conference/sessions.php

–Cat