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Overview: You need to attend in order to control your own destiny. Get involved up front instead of being a "sitting duck". More Audits are coming and government & private payers are increasing their budgets for increased audit activity around the health care provider industry. The Department of Justice is zeroing in on providers who are aberrant. Private insurance special investigations units are also gearing up and local prosecutors who are hungering for these types of prosecutions are all part of building machinery to eliminate fraud and abuse in the nation's health care system. The concern about the audit/investigative machine that has been developed should create horrendous concern for the health care provider community, because these entities will have to come up with results. Don't become one for their "results". Areas Covered in the Session: Overview of audit risks 14 Strategies to tackling auditors: i.e. Appoint Audit Manager Appoint Audit Committee Proactively seek out info from audit visitors Respond quickly to audit visitor requests Identify On Site control person Provide strong support for onsite control person Onsite control person must be close to the visitors Audit committee to meet daily with visitors Respond quickly to early findings Request feedback from visitors Request Exit conference Carefully review preliminary findings Respond to final report Correct problem findings Who Will Benefit: Health Care Professionals Health Service Providers Compliance Officers CEO's Corporate Attorneys Speaker Profile Joseph R. Batte is president of Kristall Associates, a compliance, and risk assessment specialist for the health care provider community as well as the litigation support community. He is a former special agent with the US Office of Inspector General and participated in the development of that Departments compliance guidance's. He is a nationally known speaker on compliance and has authored the book "Doctors are from Jupiter, Compliance is from

Overview: In this webinar, Hope will present the lessons she's learned over her career as a grant writer and editor in medical research. By identifying simple solutions to common problems, participants will learn tools to improve their ability create competitive grant applications and increase their academic and research productivity. To write compelling grant applications, this webinar will cover: How your choice of words will help you stay within page limits without compromising the science How to minimize abbreviations to improve readability and respect reviewer time constraints How to use Microsoft Word efficiently to improve page layout and readability How to manage references by enlisting online databases and reference management software How and when to stop developing the content to meet both grantor and institutional deadlines Why should you Attend: Many Grant Writing workshops do not teach writing per se. Though useful for beginning grant writers, most focus on understanding the application process and the various sections of a grant. For participants wanting to learn to actually write a grant, they are often left to figure out the technique for themselves. In addition, funding opportunity applications (FOAs) have changed quite rapidly in the past few years and require more focused writing in fewer pages. Competition has increased as budgets have shrunk, and knowing how to make the most out of both the time and the length of a grant project can prove challenging and extremely stressful. This webinar is for both new and experienced grant writers, either scientists and principal investigators or writers and other support staff. By using common resources (MS Word, EndNote, PubMed), the webinar content is designed to help grant-writing teams increase their efficiency in the writing process and also meet the requirements of the FOAs. Plus, plain language and good writing practices taught in this webinar will ensure straight-forward, content-rich, and well

Overview:   Review 6 points of high quality evidence based clinical documentation Review of 7 criteria that all entries in a patient record should include Impact of documentation on coding and claims Impact on audits and ability to defend an audit When an audit is initiated, the completeness of documentation becomes critical in the ability to support what you have reported. Let's take a look at areas in which weaknesses are often found.  Why should you Attend:  The granularity and accuracy of the ICD-10 code set is supported by quality clinical documentation. It is anticipated that payers will increasingly become less flexible in allowing non-specific codes. The use of unspecified codes will likely lead to rejected claims if it is possible to report the more definitive condition. In most cases, unspecified should not be reported unless there is clear evidence to support the inability to report the detailed option.  Is your E & M level supported in the documentation? If you have never experienced scrutiny of your billing patterns by payers and other entities, you may not be aware of weaknesses that lead to recovery of funds or other costly consequences. Your documentation will be key in supporting diagnoses, service codes and acuity of the patient. It is not just payers who engage in audits. Others include State medical boards, Qui Tam and possible reporting of questionable practices by patients. Do your billing patterns and documentation stand up under reporting scrutiny? This presentation will review areas in which you may not be as strong as you think!  Areas Covered in the Session: Significance of abnormal lab results Measurement of lesions, when taken and inclusion of margins Start & stop times & methodology for infusions & discrepancies in billing Diagnostic testing and medications should be supported in a diagnosis Depth of wounds and cause should be clear Severity of illness Diagnosis present on admission? Who Will Benefit: Coders Billers Rev

Overview:  Emotionally difficult or painful conversations are very common in health care. Consequently, it is quite remarkable that health care training programs do not spend more time teaching future health professionals the kinds of emotional and relational skills that are often required in these kinds of patient-provider interactions. This presentation will discuss the architecture of the painful conversation by examining : Its effect on the professional's sense of self and especially his or her need to preserve self-esteem The critical role of feelings and emotions, and The nature and value of empathy. The latter half of the presentation will consist of various strategic and practical recommendations so that emotionally challenging conversations might be conducted artfully, especially with "difficult" or "impossible" patients. Areas Covered in the Session: By the end of this presentation, learners will be able to: Relate the painful conversation to their construction of their professional "self"; Explain how an ability to control one's feelings can influence the success or failure of an emotionally difficult conversation; List a number of empathic responses that are useful in conducting difficult conversations Who Will Benefit: Any health professional who has to communicate with others. Speaker Profile John D. Banja is a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and a medical ethicist at the Center for Ethics at Emory University. He also directs the Section on Ethics for the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Emory. Dr. Banja received a doctorate degree in philosophy from Fordham University in New York and has taught and lectured on topics in medical ethics throughout the United States. He has authored or coauthored over 200 publications and has delivered over 800 invited presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. He currently serves as the Editor of the American Journal

Overview: One of the major requirements of the health care organization to be HIPAA compliant is to develop and implement a set of HIPAA privacy and security policies and procedures. This can be a daunting task for those not knowing where to start and what a set of HIPAA privacy and security policies and procedures should look like. For the cost conscious health care organization, the HIPAA policies and procedures can have multiple uses: first, they can become a basis for training the health care organization workforce; second, they can be used as a basis for conducting a HIPAA self-assessment; and third, they can be used to demonstrate due diligence should there be a breach or an externalHIPAA compliance audit. In today's world it is not necessary that the health care organization spend significant funds to develop a set of HIPAA privacy and security policies and procedures from scratch. The health care organization can likely find templates on the internet that can be used as a starting point to customize HIPAA policies and procedures to be unique for the health care organization. The preparation of a well-documented set of HIPAA policies and procedures needs to be addressed through the development of Privacy and Security policies and procedures that address each of the requirements shown in the HIPAA regulations as amended by the HITECH law and the final Omnibus Regulations. The process of developing the HIPAA privacy and security policies and procedures also provides a reference for the health care organization how to consider the security addressable and required regulation requirements. Why should you attend: There are three situations where having a set of HIPAA policies and procedures are needed: First, the policies and procedures become a good reference to ensure that all areas are addressed for becoming HIPAA compliant. Second, the HIPAA regulations REQUIRE covered entities and business associates to have a set of policies and procedures directing t

Overview: Today's educated professionals function in a maze of different educational and training requirements, which vary from state to state and from profession to profession. Nowhere than in health care is this more evident where multidisciplinary health care practitioners work together towards a common goal for the patient. What is a profession? What areas of work require the unique professional education, training, and experience that becomes mandated by the state? What work requires professional judgment and skill so as to be regulated by the government through mandatory laws applicable to an individual person practicing his or her chosen profession? State laws are enacted for the protection of the public by legislatures in all the fifty states. A list of individual professions and their applicable statues and administrative regulations takes up entire volumes of lawbooks. These state laws impose significant regulation on these professionals, and often in very different ways found in many aspects of state regulation, from the educational process, the examination requirements, the state licensure applications, and the legal standards and rules of each unique profession. Explore how state licensure boards are created and function at the state level. While most such state agencies have common, core functions and operations, there are many differences - and some requirements that are truly the opposite from profession to profession. Review the common requirements the state imposes on the health care provider. Know the basics of professional education and licensure. Understand the difference between legally binding laws and mere codes of ethics, which are aspirational and do not form the basis for legal action. Find out how to understand and navigate the challenges presented from differing and conflicting state laws governing the many health care professions. Know where key requirements exist that are common to many professions. This program offers an obje

Overview: Many infectious diseases were historically confined to specific geographical regions. However, some now pose global threats due to ease of travel, globalization of trade and commerce and global warming. Government Agencies, non-Profit Organizations, Philanthropic groups and others are also funding vaccination programs for regions where infectious diseases are endemic and to deal with new outbreaks.. Such developments are stimulating research in and the development of improved vaccines, their manufacture and control. Supply Chain complexities and stability issues need to be addressed to cope with transport of vaccines to and their use in climatically hostile regions. Programs to address such challenges need to be implemented, being resourced by appropriately trained and qualified staff from a number of disciplines. Development programs for immuno oncology products also require staffing by similarly skilled professionals. Workers currently engaged in Discovery, Development and Manufacture of conventional medications , or those seeking career-change opportunities can develop an understanding of the concepts, constraints and opportunities associated with Vaccine products by attendance at the Webinar. Engineering professionals involved in facility construction, or repurposing can also benefit as can Regulatory Affairs Professionals or staff at medicines Evaluation Agencies. The subject matter is particularly suited to professionals who are expert in the various disciplines associated with conventional medications ("so-called "small molecules") who wish to expand and develop their skills by involvement in vaccine-related programs including immuno-oncology. Areas Covered in the Session: History of and development of vaccine concepts. undamentals of vaccination Vaccine Types Administration of Vaccines Future Concepts Immuno-Oncology Vaccine Manufacture Who Will Benefit: Regulatory Affair Managers Project Management Personnel QA Managers Scientists Technol

Overview: Being in compliance with HIPAA involves not only ensuring you provide the appropriate patient rights and controls on your uses and disclosures of protected health information, but you also have the proper policies and procedures in place. If audited or the subject of a compliance review you will be required to show the government you have all the necessary documentation in place for safeguarding patient Protected Health Information and indicate how you addressed all required security safeguards. This starts with the fundamentals of a HIPAA compliance program. If your organization needs to understand the role of the HIPAA Security Official, the requirements, and make sure the current compliance program is adequate and can withstand government scrutiny, please join us for this informative and interactive course. Why should you Attend: The role of the HIPAA Security Official is critically important in complying with the HIPAA Security Rule. Besides being responsible for many of the daily operations within an organization, the Security Official is tasked with managing the HIPAA compliance program. Knowing what is required is part of the Security Official's duties. Attendees will leave the course clearly understanding of all the requirements for a comprehensive HIPAA compliance program and to make sure on organization has the proper policies and procedures in place. After completing this course, a HIPAA Security Official will have a clear understanding for what needs to be place when it comes to all of the HIPAA regulations. Areas Covered in the Session: Why was HIPAA created? Who Must Comply with HIPAA Requirements? What are the HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules? The Role of the HIPAA Security Official What is a HIPAA Compliance Program? What is a HIPAA Risk Management Plan? What is meant by "Required" and "Addressable" Implementation Specifications? What are Administrative, Technical, and Physical Safeguards Requirements? What is a HIPAA Risk Asses

Overview: Upon completing this course participants will leave with a preliminary preventive control implementation plan and will: * Understand US FDA final rules for the Preventive Controls for Human and Animal Foods * Define and review your current system to identify gaps in your preventive controls planning. * Be able to develop and implement a valid preventive control company food safety plan to close any gaps * Write and implement appropriate procedures. * Know your requirements for control over your supply chain * Be able to plan and implement HARPC * Be able to perform environmental monitoring * Know how cross contamination can impact your preventive control plan * Know the difference between validation and verification * Understand and be able to use statistical process controls basics * Be able to plan and implement a team approach to preventive controls * Be able to help your food importers to jump through FDA hoops * Develop a system to risk rank your suppliers * Have a plan in hand that will pass any validation check for preventive controls * Understand some of the technology and costs that can help you establish preventive controls * Prove that your system actually prevents food safety problems * Be able to document and report results to upper management, external food safety auditors and FDA auditors * Save your company money Establish simple, low cost complete data collection and reporting systems. * Establish teambuilding between food safety and quality personnel to develop and implement changes to your current system * Understand food safety, security and recall responsibilities in light of cargo theft, adulteration and temperature failures * Learn how to use your system to get some ROI and improve your marketing position * Review current and future technologies designed to improve and simplify data collection * Establish a completely documented system Why should you attend: Validation of preventive co

Videos from the ePatient Connections Conference

Overview:   Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) defines reliability as "failure-free performance over time2". This is simple enough to be understood by anyone. The aim is to have no failures over an extended time period in spite of variability in the patient environment. spite of variability in the patient environment.  This is in line with the technical definition of reliability as the probability of successful performance of intended functions for a specified length of time under a specified user (patient) environment. In a system where the severity of consequences is high, such as in hospitals, the goal is to achieve reliability as close to 100% as possible. This is called failure-free performance. Some hospitals have achieved this goal for specific medical procedures for several quarters. Can they extend this performance over years instead of quarters? That is the challenge we need to face and find elegant solutions zero mistakes or find a way to protect patients if a mistake cannot be prevented.  Why should you Attend: The failures of the U.S. healthcare system are enormous considering the severity of failures. As much as 400,000 patients die each year from hospital mistakes. Another 2.1 are harmed from nosocomial infections (infections acquired during hospital stay). The cost is in billions. Discussions with doctors show that there is reluctance to apply reliability principles to healthcare systems because the variability in healthcare is enormous compared to the aviation and industrial fields. Each customer (patient) is different and each illness is unique in its own way. Then there are interconnecting systems such as cardiology, gynecology, gastroenterology, emergency medicine, oncology, and patient data from various doctors, pagers, computers, vendor software, and intensive care, each operating independently most of the time. But good approaches to improving the system reliability have been tried and tested in many industries. There is a

Overview:   We will review the various elements of the physician employment agreement, focusing on the pitfalls and the problems that can develop when the agreement does not clearly define the relationship, and/or when the parties do not fully understand what is being agreed to. Such items as term and termination, termination for cause, duties of the physician, call, non-compete, and compensation are all items that should be clearly set out in the agreement and fully understood by the parties. Why should you attend: Formal written contracts establish the legal relationship between the parties; they state the terms and conditions of that relationship and the rights and obligations of each party. They confirm the intentions and relationships of the parties as they enter into this relationship, and they eliminate uncertainties regarding mutual rights, obligations, and relationships. If everything remained as it is at the time the agreement is signed, there would be little need for formal documents. However, the agreement serves to protect against future disputes. Therefore, it should include as precise language as possible. Ambiguous terms in agreements are of little effect when disputes occur over the meaning of a party's rights or obligations. You should attend to gain an understanding of what should and what should not be in a physician employment agreement. Areas Covered in the Session: Corporate practice of medicine Term and termination Termination for Cause Severance pay Provision allowing physician to terminate for cause Severance pay Duties of the physician Standards for the provision of professional services Referral to hospital Continuing medical education Who Will Benefit: Physicians Healthcare executives Physician practice managers Speaker Profile William Mack Copeland MS, JD, PhD, LFACHE, practices health care law in Cincinnati at the firm of Copeland Law, LLC. He is also president of Executive & Managerial Development Group, a consu