The following announcements are from Cahaba GBA and include important information regarding A CHANGE IN MEDICARE PAYMENTS OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS and UPCOMING WEBINARS.

Dear Medicare J10 Part B Providers and Partners,

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ONLY APPLIES TO J10 B MAC PROVIDERS
(Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee)

In order to maximize efficiency and cost savings from the MAC implementation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)instructed Cahaba GBA to merge the Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee production regions. Review Change Request 6765 for more information regarding the merge.

The effective date of the J10 Part B merge is Saturday, July 31, 2010.

Payment Floor Reduction

A temporary reduction of the payment floor will be implemented during the J10 Part B merge.  Cahaba GBA will implement a reduction Payment Floor schedule beginning TODAY, Wednesday, July 21, 2010.  This temporary reduction of the payment floor

The 2010 TIKI MAST Symposium will be held August 6 & 7, 2010 at the Riverview Inn in Clarksville, TN. CEU's will be awarded from Austin Peay University.

Click here to view the schedule

Click here to view the sign up sheet

TASA congratulates John Wilbanks of Powell, TN for his second place entry in the NAEMT 2010 "Why EMS Matters......to you" Essay Contest.

From NAEMT - In honor of National EMS Week, and to provide members with the opportunity to voice their pride in their profession, NAEMT introduced a new essay contest: Why EMT Matter.....To You.

The following three 2010 essay contest winners shared why EMS is their calling and passion, and difference that they make in their communities.

1st Place: Kelly Buddenhagen - Ellijay, GA

2nd Place: John Wilbanks - Powell, TN

3rd Place: Arron Paduaevans - Cherry Valley, AR

For more information including the complete essays visit the NAEMT web site

THE CADAVER LAB HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE INABILITY TO ATTAIN THE MINIMUM ATTENDEES.

MTEMSDA APOLOGIZES FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

Health Care Reform and What It Means To Your Service
The health care reform law and other recently passed Federal Legislation will affect your ambulance service for many years to come.  Many of the changes will not be clarified until Federal agencies publish their final regulations.  Immediate changes will take place with Medicare timely filing, signature legibility and credential auditing, and extension of temporary Medicare increases.  The following articles provide more information about these changes.

Additional changes include expected mandatory compliance plan requirements, expansion of the Contractor Auditing scope, potential bundled payments programs, and other ambulance service impact areas.

Medicare Timely Filing Limits Reduced
The Health Care Reform Bill, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was recently signed into law, reduces the time limits for filing fee for service claim with Medicare.

Under the new law, claims for transports with dates of service on or after January 1, 2010 must be filed no later than the one calendar year after the date of service.  For dates of service prior to January 1, 2010, claims must now be submitted by the end of 2010.

The new law permits the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish exceptions to the new one year time limit.

CMS indicated that this amendment is intended to curb fraud and abuse in the Medicare Program.

The reduced time limit for submission for Medicare reimbursement strengthens the need for crews to gather and provide accurate patient information to identify Medicare coverage.

Patient Signature Rule

By G. Christopher Kelly, Esq.

With little or no warning to the provider community, CMS is telling Medicare contrac­tors to begin requiring signatures to be legible, and if they are not, the written name AND credentials below it or on an accompanying signature example sheet must be in­cluded; otherwise your claim may be denied. CMS is set to begin enforcement of this new rule April 16th, 2010. The requirement applies to both EMT/Medic signatures on your trip report and physician or alternate signatures on your PCS statements. It is likely that the contractors ("MACs") will enforce this rule through small probe audits where they look at 20 claims. 

The MACs are also looking at ambulance documentation in a new way.  For years they have focused on the necessity of the ambulance for transport. Now they are leaving that issue to the Program Safeguard Contractors, and the MACs are looking to see if we have collected all of the proper signatures.

 The “patient signature rule” is really for the patient to acknowledge that they have re­ceived the services.  Many ambulance suppliers add language into the patient signature block about assignment of benefits and release of medical records, while leaving out any reference to the patient actually receiving the service.  In a nut-shell, the require­ment is that a patient sign at the time of transport just to show that they actually re­ceived the services.  If the patient is not able to sign, there are five other acceptable sig­natories (see the example below), and if none are available, then and only then should the crew sign and state why the patient was not able to sign for themselves.  Nothing prohibits adding additional language into that signature block about financial responsi­bility, but the release of medical information is more appropriately covered by the HI­PAA signature, which should be a separate signature line, because the patient is ac­knowledging two separate things.

Here is a sample of what the signature block should look like:

The 2010 MTEC Conference sponsored by the Middle TN EMS Director's Association is scheduled for May 13 and 14, 2010. The conference will be held at Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickson County. Participants will be awarded 10 continuing education contact hours from the TN Dept. of Health Division of EMS. Click here to view the MTEC conference brochure and schedule.

THE CADAVER LAB HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 18, 2010 AT THE RENAISSANCE CENTER IN DICKSON, TN. PREREGISTRATION DEADLINE IS JUNE 11, 2010. DUE TO CLASS SIZE LIMITATIONS, PARTICIPANTS ARE REQUIRED TO PREREGISTER. Click here to view the flyer

Conference Fees:

MTEC Conference Only = $110.00 postmarked on or prior to May 6, 2010. ($150.00 at the door)

Cadaver Lab Only = $125.00

MTEC Conference and Cadaver Lab = $200.00 **** SAVE $35.00 *****

Lodging Accomodations for MTEC: Available at Montgomery Bell Lodge 1-800-250-8613. Be sure to mention MTEC 2010 to secure conference rates of $80.33 per room/night/taxes. Room rates guaranteed until May 1, 2010.

McMahan-Winstead Legislative Report - Friday, April 16, 2010

 Committees are waning as few pieces of legislation have yet to be heard and the governor’s budget is awaiting submission to the legislature.  Republican and Democratic leaders addressed the Senate with concern over budgetary proceedings and were informed that a budget should be submitted as early as two weeks.

The Senate has closed some committees and most other committees plan to close this week.  The respective finance and subcommittees will remain open and will receive the most attention in the following weeks.  Tensions are high and partisanship is starting to rear its head as emotions ran high this week.  Members are awaiting the budget and are still positive of a May sine-die.

Legislative News

Under newly-unveiled legislation, owners of all terrain vehicles willing to pay a $11.25 state fee and perhaps more to local governments would have access to a network of "adventure tourism" trails and nearby highways where they are now forbidden to roam. Out-of-state residents could purchase a temporary weekend permit for $4. State Reps. Les Winningham, D-Huntsville, and Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, said the plan was developed by a group of interested parties, ranging from ATV enthusiasts to government officials, with the goal of creating a new means of generating tourism spending in rural Tennessee.