The IMA Quarterly: Q3 2009 page 1
Preparing for OMH Clinic Restructuring
The IMA developers are already hard at work on the new Medicaid payment system, part of the overall OMH Clinic Restructuring Plan, scheduled to go into effect 1/1/2010.
Part of this work was the lively and well-attended webinar Barry hosted on 6/17/09 regarding reports required for agencies to be included in the uncompensated care pool.
On 7/2/09 we announced we can create a report which meets the requirements outlined in the 6/19/09 OMH draft. On 7/14/09 we learned final requirements will be available “in a few weeks”, so we will have it ready as soon as they are issued. The report will use information already in your system and will satisfy the need to cover services back to 7/1/09. IMA customers on subscription will get this as part of their subscription. A license fee will apply for others.
ARRA Funding
We are excited about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that is supposed to pump in more than $19 billion into Healthcare Information Technology.
Unfortunately, at this time, Behavioral Healthcare providers are excluded by various technical reasons from the main Medicaid and Medicare incentives which are targeted to “ensure the utilization of an EHR for each American by the year 2014”.
Some smaller amounts of “grant” money are available, however, and much lobbying is going on right now to channel additional funding to our industry.
At IMA we are following closely these developments to make sure that when funds become available, IMA will have qualifying products in which you can invest.
The Executive Corner
This section is specifically addressed to the busy executive to highlight and briefly summarize topics in this issue that may be of critical importance to your agency.
The tips listed in this article on page 3 could save your agency much money and aggravation. This should be required reading for your financial managers.
If your agency utilizes group sessions for Outpatient MH, OASAS, CDT or PROS, the article on page 2 describing our new group services software could be very important to you. The new software dramatically improves the efficiency of tracking and billing for these services. It also provides for integrated clinical documentation that is now demanded by the regulators.
The Service Corner on page 5 contains a very useful list and live links to more than a dozen online information resources for answers to billing and regulatory questions. The IMA HelpDesk people use these extensively to get answers for your questions. They are now sharing their “trade secrets” with you. Potentially these links can get you answers more quickly and may save much IMA billable time by getting the answers directly.
A New Face at IMA
This summer when you call IMA you may be greeted by a new cheerful young voice. The voice and face below belong to a 3rd generation Samel working as a summer intern at the IMA HelpDesk. Menachem is the son of Dr. Shmuel Samel, Barry’s younger brother.
In addition to HelpDesk support, he is also learning and contributing to our ongoing development of new EMR clinical forms.
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