DX Agenda

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Traditional | Analysis 
Content Area: Operational Excellence

Speakers: Colleen Deighan, RHIA, CCS, CCDS-O, senior outpatient and professional consultant, 3M Information Health Systems

Beth Wolf, MD, medical director, health information management, Roper St. Francis

Is your practice compliant with the latest regulatory guidance for Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs)? Are you confident that your documentation and coding of outpatient Evaluation and Management (E/M) accurately translates the major 2021 update? Do your risk scores from Medicare Advantage, Medicare Shared Savings and other value-based purchasing programs accurately reflect complete capture of patient complexity and chronic disease burden?

Using case examples, this presentation will help attendees identify opportunities within the new 2021 guidelines for E/M documentation and coding, including clarification of ambiguous terms and updated criteria for choosing the level of service based on medical decision-making or time. Complexity of medical decision making is supported by the patient’s diagnoses, and it makes sense to concurrently analyze these codes to ensure that the Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF) is accurately represented by all of the valid HCC (Hierarchical Condition Category) diagnoses.

The presentation will detail specific HCC code changes and top opportunities for HCC diagnoses, demonstrate how to identify pertinent clinical indicators for queries and coding accuracy (both ICD-10-CM and E/M), and discuss the risks of under/over reporting diagnosis codes.
Learn and apply a successful approach for managing compliance with the latest regulatory guidance for HCCs while addressing the financial impact of 2021 changes to documentation and coding of E/M services.
 
This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Assess documentation and coding of outpatient E/M services using an approach that promotes accurate reimbursement and compliance with 2021 regulatory guidelines
2. Analyze documentation to identify opportunities for better capture of chronic conditions and improved RAF scores
3. Implement a process for managing compliance with the latest regulatory guidance for HCCs and revisions to documentation and coding of E/M services

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis 
Content area: Strategic Decisions

Speakers: Christopher Carson, MBA, managing director, health solutions, FTI Consulting

Richard Freeman, MD, MPH, ScD, FACPE, president, St. Charles Healthcare

Physician recruitment, retention and satisfaction require a compensation methodology and plan that is competitive, compliant and easy to administer. A key challenge is finding systematic, evidence-based approaches to selecting a methodology that supports the overall strategies of the organization; is consistent with the philosophies of the group; and can be supported by the organization's IT and management infrastructures. Regulatory issues such as fair market value and commercial reasonableness add complexity to an already complicated and sometimes confusing body of work. This presentation will share how one health care system is addressing the need to better align physician compensation with their clinical and operational needs.  The session will explore how organizations are replacing manual processes with automation to simplify the administration and transparency for physicians and other clinicians.   
 
This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Outline how one health system is evolving its physician compensation to better align with their clinical and operational needs
2. Examine how organizations are moving away from manual processes (Excel worksheets) by automating the physician compensation process
3. Analyze the current state of physician compensation including trends related to balancing value and volume, implementing incentives, and the impact of recent Stark and AKS rule updates

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis
Content area: Financial Mastery

Speaker: Dave Terry, chief executive officer, Archway Health
 
A risk transference in healthcare is well underway. CMS has developed a goal to have 100% of Medicare providers in a downside risk arrangement by 2025, with many value-based care programs —mandatory and voluntary — to help reach that goal. An increasing number of commercial and Medicare Advantage plans are developing risk-based, capitated and bundled payment contracts, while patient populations hang in the balance. As providers increasingly enter into ACOs, APMs and other value-based payment contracts, they must identify strategies to limit their exposure to catastrophic loss from their growing downside. In many cases, new value-based payment programs pose challenges, including small sample sizes, complex pricing methodologies and trends that do not lend themselves to traditional actuarial models. This session will detail how attendees can take control of their organizations’ shift to value-based payments and gain confidence in managing risk and allocating it across their balance sheets.
 
This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Basic | Comprehension 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Jessica Ellis-Wilson, CMPE, principal, Practical Management Consulting

When considering cultural competence and diversity, equity, and inclusion work, leaders can easily feel overwhelmed figuring out where to start leading change within their organizations. This high-level overview will level-set attendees’ understanding of cultural competence and DEI work and empower them with simple, actionable steps to evolve their organizations.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Describe what is meant by cultural competence, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
2. Review the research on health disparities linked to lack of cultural competence.
3. Identify how to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion by manifesting a culture of empathy, compassion, and kindness in ourselves, as well as in our teams, workplaces, and organizations

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Application | Traditional 
Content area: Operational Excellence

Speakers: Andrew J. Gibbons, CMPE, vice president, operations, Privia Health

Shishir Khetan, MD, physician and regional medical director, Privia Medical Group

Continuing Education Credits are not Available for This Session 

Speaker: Anthony F. Oliva, DO, MMM, FACPE, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Healthcare Division, Nuance 

Catelyn Kimball, Nuance

The current standard for 21st-century healthcare delivery is influx, with unique challenges preventing physicians and care teams from ensuring high-quality, patient-centered care. Many of the challenges are fundamental, interconnected, and share a consistent factor: the burden of clinical documentation. Physicians today are looking for emerging technology to help optimize processes and improve efficiencies to help return to the ideal model of the physician-patient relationship. As healthcare organizations continue to innovate, AI and ambient-based technology are likely to play a big role. Join this session to experience a live stream demonstration of the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (Nuance DAX) and to Identify how AI-powered technology can be utilized to save time, and increase efficiencies while reducing burnout.  
 
This session will provide you with the knowledge to : 

1. Identify how AI-powered technology can be utilized to save time, and increase efficiencies while reducing burnout 
2. Describe how a secure, ambient clinical intelligence solution supports a new strategy for clinical documentation

Session Details Coming Soon!

ACMPE: 1. | AAPC: 1. |ACHE: 1. | CME: 1. | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1.

Traditional | Basic | Comprehension
Content area: Leading People
 
Speaker: Shola Richards, founder and chief executive officer, Go Together Global

Successful leaders are always looking for proven strategies to strengthen team cohesion and togetherness. High-functioning teams can energize teams and leaders, but accomplishing this type of culture is not always easy.  In his highly inspiring general session, Shola will introduce the transformative concept of Ubuntu (pronounced, "oo-BOON-too") which translates to "I am because we are." The Ubuntu philosophy, along with three powerful questions, will provide the audience with actionable strategies to transform their work culture, amplify team civility, and inspire themselves and others to bring their best to their work consistently. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Identify three key questions that they need to ask themselves to increase the likelihood of a civil, engaged, and productive work culture.
2. Describe the most common objections to beginning the important work of positively transforming their work culture.
3. Recognize the self-awareness to become mindful of how their words, actions, and behaviors affect others

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Basic | Traditional | Comprehension
Content area: Government Affairs
 
Speakers: Drew Voytal, MPA, Associate Director, Government Affairs 

Matt Devino, MPH, Associate Director, Government Affairs

In this session, representatives from MGMA Government Affairs will provide an update on the current federal policy developments impacting medical practice operations. The speakers will discuss upcoming Medicare payment and quality rules, the status of federal COVID-19 relief programs, and other key regulatory changes to come in 2022.  

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Identify key regulatory proposals
2. Discuss legislative issues impacting medical groups
3. Describe MGMA advocacy initiatives 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Application | Traditional 
Content area: Operational Excellence

Speakers: Rhonda Hamilton, LPN, chief operating officer, Silver State ACO

Lawrence M. Preston, MBA, FHFMA, chief executive officer and co-founder, Silver State ACO

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Application 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Katie Lawrence, MHA CMPE, executive director, ambulatory and medical group optimization, Prisma Health

Keeping and retaining an engaged workforce is challenging even in times of stability — and healthcare has been anything but stable in recent years, as new challenges and environmental changes have taxed every part of our professional lives. The industry is exhausted. In this session, leaders will learn how to refresh and revitalize their own sense of purpose and inner energy to help their teams to do the same. While humans have infinite ability to adapt, we each have only a specific emotional capacity for change at any given moment. Attendees will learn how to communicate purpose and passion to team members in a way that makes a connection. They will examine ways to link each employee to the deeper meaning of their role, which in turn draws patients and customers to your business. But talk is not enough. In fact, when the workforce it exhausted, talk alone can be more detrimental than silence from a leader. Leaders will identify tactics and processes to support their teams, as well as ways to balance the needs of the organization with the emotional, physical and intellectual state of their teams. Leaders will walk away with renewed energy to continue the important work that they and their teams perform every day.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Application 
Content area: Operational Excellence

Speaker: Sandy K. Giangreco Brown, BS, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P, CHC, COC, CPC, CPC-I, COBGC, PCS
director, coding and revenue integrity, CLA

Practices and hospitals are employing more advanced practice providers (APPs) to meet growing healthcare needs, but they often do not understand the coding, billing and supervision requirements. This session will cover the Medicare guidelines related to services provided in different settings, billing requirements and other considerations. The speaker will provide examples of private payer policy for payment of APP services. The session will detail auditing considerations, along with ideas for managing the risk areas and educating administrators, physicians and other providers.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Application | Intermediate 
Content area: Financial Mastery

Speaker: Doral M. Jacobsen, FACMPE, chief executive officer, Prosper Beyond This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Analysis | Interactive 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Ronald Menaker, FACMPE, Ed.D., CPA, administrator, Mayo Clinic

Achieving group practice outcomes requires a foundation of talent. Succession planning is an essential and practical strategy to develop individuals for all roles and to mitigate gaps that may emerge without appropriate attention. Succession management has a number of processes to help identify, assess and implement development plans. A robust process will consider those poised for stepping up and their various states of readiness. Strategies will be shared on how to develop the process in a practical way to optimize the readiness of the talent pool, including the roles that the employee, supervisor and organization should play. Work experiences, feedback/relationships and training all are involved in successful talent management.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Analysis | Traditional 
Content area: Strategic Decisions

Speakers: Mitzi Kent, RN, BSN, partner, Barlow/McCarthy

Chris Hyers, vice president, strategy and business development, UConn Health

Transitioning physicians to employment requires attention to hundreds of details, especially given the difficulties of physician shortages in some regions and specialties. A well-organized onboarding approach can align and engage the physician while ensuring internal obligations are met. This session will discuss how one highly regarded organization helped their providers meet their budgeted productivity goals seven out of eight times. Attendees will learn how to use onboarding as an engagement strategy rather than a tactical process, as well as methods and tools for referral development, monitoring of success and tracking productivity goals.  The session will explore how to use checklists, templates and other communication tools that lead to building community and a sense of belonging, as well as maintaining physician alignment.
 
This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Interactive | Analysis | Intermediate 
Content area: Financial Mastery

Speaker: Nate Moore, CPA, MBA, FACMPE, chief executive officer, Moore Solutions Inc

How much of your revenue cycle can be influenced before a patient even walks through your door? What proactive actions can practice administrators take to front-load revenue cycle success, such as reducing no shows, ensuring procedures have pre-authorization and filling open appointment slots? But there is much more. Have you considered an appointment scrubber that can data mine upcoming appointments for potential issues, such as patients in a collection status, insurance plan issues, scheduling problems or patients in a global period? Appointment data also can show recently canceled appointments to could be filled or blocked provider templates that need be addressed. Keep digging, and appointment data could reveal providers who do not have enough upcoming new patient appointments to generate budgeted procedures, or providers whose time to appointment is too long, or providers who have cancelled and then lost patient appointments. Join a unique conversation about managing provider capacity, efficiency and throughput using data your practice management system already knows but may not be clearly telling you. See and discuss examples of actual reports for reducing no-shows, managing provider templates, mining appointment data and much more. The audience will select and prioritize the topics we discuss, so come prepared with questions your practice is raising and insight you would like to share.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Content area: Transforming Patient Care
Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis 

Speaker(s): Michael Blackman, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, Greenway Health

While virtual care has existed for years, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the catalyst that finally accelerated its adoption and popularity. Virtual care technologies enable providers to stay better connected to their patients. These tools can be used for convenient check-ins and additional follow-up, which allow for more proactive management of at-risk patients and early detection of potential health risks. Offering virtual care is an additional tool for healthcare providers. Its availability is key to ensuring patients feel that they can receive care when and how they need it, providing increased accessibility to care and leading to better patient outcomes. Although this virtualization provides an opportunity for increased access to care, it is imperative to consider how it will affect existing healthcare disparities across patient populations. Providers and healthcare IT innovators alike have the responsibility of ensuring that the evolution of the healthcare industry does not widen the care access gap for underserved communities. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Point out three or more areas of your practice where virtual care technologies can be leveraged to increase patients' access to care
2. Outline the advantages and potential threats to the increased virtualization within the healthcare industry
3. Calculate the success of your virtual care strategy within your practice

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Stephen A. Dickens, JD, FACMPE, vice president, medical practice services, SVMIC

Healthcare continues to face new and unparalleled challenges, including burgeoning regulations, evolving payment models, physician and staff recruitment and a pandemic. Our medical practice patients, staff and physicians need leaders who can confront the obstacles while seizing the opportunities. Challenging times call for solid management and great leadership. Management is the easy part. Good organizational skills will carry you much of the way, but what about leadership? During this interactive session, the speaker will detail what sets a leader apart from a manager and what makes a great leader. If the obstacles of 2020 made you question your skills, this is the session to help you hone them. Attendees will be able to differentiate the choices that transform a manager to a leader, as well as the essential elements to successfully demonstrate those choices. Anyone seeking to expand or enhance their leadership skills will gain insight into the techniques and communication skills necessary to succeed. Attendees will receive an organizational survey to facilitate discussion during the strategic planning process for their organizations, as well as a leadership checklist to keep you on track.
 
This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Content area: Leading People
Analysis | intermediate | traditional 

Speaker: Gretchen Napier, MSHA, SHRM-SCP, CMC, Medical Practice Specialist, SVMIC

We all have biases, and as a result, so do the organizations we build and lead. But talking about these biases and feeling confident addressing them is difficult for most of us. In this presentation, Ms. Napier gently empowers attendees with information and step-by-step strategies to work against institutional bias. With a foundation of research on how biases become embedded in our thoughts and our workplaces, participants will consider reflection questions to privately examine their personal biases. Checklists and sample performance standards mobilize attendees with tools they can use to take immediate action. The session concludes with three real-life medical practice case studies implementing the step-by-step process, with small-group discussions included. Biases discussed include racism, sexism, hiring and advancement bias, as well as customer and retribution bias. In a divided culture, this session is designed to help us create a world that works for everyone. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Distinguish at least three types of bias
2. Breakdown causes of bias within your organization
3. Prepare steps for accountability and ongoing measurement that ensure continued focus and progress toward goals

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Traditional | Analysis 
Content area: Strategic Decisions

Speakers: Isabelle Bibet-Kalinyak, JD, MBA, attorney and partner, BRACH EICHLER, LLC

Rajesh U. Kothari, CFA, managing director and founder, Cascade Partners LLC

There are several options for medical practice lifecycle growth and success beyond private equity (PE). This session, led by a healthcare attorney and an investment banker, will outline the broader range of options for providers, including practice expansion on their own; forming/utilizing a management services organization; joining an independent practice association (IPA); combining/merging practices; joining a hospital; or partnering with PE. The speakers will explain factors to consider; key challenges and opportunities with various strategies; preparation; regulatory requirements; and the mid- to long-term implications from business, HR and capital standpoints. This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Application 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Jeff Comer, PhD, MHA, FACHE, chief executive officer, Summit Behavioral Health

Burnout among healthcare leaders is widespread, yet tactics to mitigate burnout are overwhelmingly directed at frontline caregivers. The pressures and resulting burnout of leaders has differing etiological factors than with clinicians. As a result, burnout takes a substantial toll on leaders personally and professionally. Leadership results and organizational success are negatively correlated with burnout in leaders, yielding poor performance. The speaker brings a 20-year career as a hospital and medical practice CEO with a doctorate in psychology with research interests in psychoneuroimmunology (the study of stress on physiological and psychological processes). The session will cover the background of burnout and underlying stress factors with measurable evidence-based practices for mitigating the resulting negative effects. These techniques that I will teach have been found to provide strong validity for improving personal and professional impacts of burnout, leading to greater performance. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Discover the underlying etiological factors of burnout
2. Use stress reactivity profiles that help identify unique, causal stress factors contributing to burnout
3. To provide empirically-based tactics to mitigate underlying stress based on results from the stress reactivity profiles, helping participants to reduce burnout and increase leadership performance.

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Application | Traditional 
Content area: Strategic Decision

Speakers: Daniel Cruz, ASA, MAAA, consulting actuary, Axene Health Partners, LLC

Nathan Kaufman, MS, managing director, Kaufman Strategic Advisors

Providers sometimes find themselves at an informational disadvantage to payers when negotiating contracts. Learn about the increasingly transparent, publicly available payer information, cutting-edge data platforms and provider-focused actuarial tools that can help level the playing field. Practices and hospital systems understand their own business, how to manage care effectively and improve quality. However, health plans that partner or negotiate with providers may view costs and the delivery of care in a different light and will negotiate contracts on their terms. This session will help providers understand the tools available to them to bridge the gap between providers and payers when negotiating contracts. This session will include an overview of physician compensation and the quality of care; communicating how the quality of care translates to value for the payer; understanding the actuarial cost model (e.g., what percentage of claims should physicians, pharmacies, etc., receive and how that differs between well managed and poorly managed care; creating reimbursement benchmarks; what reimbursement levels to pursue; and how to leverage public data to level the contract negotiationplaying field.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Discover sources of data useful in payer contract negotiations
2. Employ an actuarial cost model for benchmarks for negotiations and justifications for contract proposals
3. Use new data and tools for stronger narratives and more informed negotiation positions with payers

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional |  Intermediate | Analysis 
Content area: Leading People

Speakers: Kimberly A. Bass, vice president, ambulatory operations, Cooper University Health Care

Linda Valenti, RN, BSN, MSN/MBA, associate vice president, ambulatory operations, Cooper University Health Care

Achieving organizational outcomes requires highly engaged teams. The pandemic posed significant, never-before-seen challenges for leaders engaging staff and providers. However, innovation drove engagement through a concerted effort to reduce stress by ensuring standardized, frequent communication (plans), standing agenda items (updated policies and procedures), increased rounding, tools designed to identify escalating stress, standing recognition opportunities, educational videos from subject matter experts, and more. This presentation, featuring video clips and case studies, will share standardized tools and behaviors to utilize in times of rapid and dynamic transitions when there isn't the appropriate amount of time allotted for traditional change management.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Outline an assessment of barriers to engagement objectives as evidenced by completion of a fishbone diagram and/or a risk assessment/prioritization tool
2. Organize an action plan designed to achieve engagement outcomes for their organization as evidenced by completion of an action plan tool
3. Point out quality objectives via completion of a control plan tool

 

ACMPE: .5 | AAPC: .5 |ACHE: .5 | CME: .5 | CEU: .5

Traditional | Basic | Comprehension 
Content area: Transforming Patient Care 

Speaker: Betty Rabinowitz, MD, FACP, chief medical officer, Next Gen 

With so many chronic health challenges driven by nutrition, physical activity, and stress, the need to effectively support patients' behavior change is essential. Prevention and treatment depend on patients being highly engaged in their care and motivated to achieve positive and lasting outcomes. The presentation will address applying the Self-Determination Theory to change patient behavior in complex medical situations. This approach will enhance your interactions with patients to support healthy lifestyles and achieve better patient outcomes. 
   
This session will provide you the knowledge to:  

1. Describe the principles of self-determination theory 
2. Identify how to apply Self-Determination Theory to health care encounters and complex patient situations 

 

ACMPE: 1. | AAPC: 1. |ACHE: 1. | CME: 1. | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1.

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis
Content area: Leading People 

Speaker: Erica Dhawan, award-winning keynote speaker and author

We live in a world of endless meetings, emails, and constant cross-team dysfunction, duplication and delays. Our collaboration skills aren't always working to unlock better value in our business. As radical a concept as Emotional Intelligence was in the 90s, Connectional Intelligence is turning people into super connectors who accelerate innovation, break down silos and foster breakthrough bottom-line impact by harnessing the power of networks. Healthcare leaders simply can not solve all the problems in their practices by themselves. An effective leader must have the ability to harness the power within their teams and their network.  Attend this general session for strategies to use connectional intelligence to tap into to accomplish big things. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Apply successful tactics to address communication overload and foster authentic, innovation-driving relationships
2. Discover tools to break down silos and keep teams aligned, accountable, and motivated both in-person and online
3. Complete specific actions to foster loyalty, respect, collaboration, and innovation across stakeholder networks, regardless of physical distance

 

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Content area: Leading People
 
Speakers: Kem Tolliver, CMPE CPC CMOM,  president and chief executive officer Medical Revenue Cycle Specialists
 
Taya Moheiser, CMPE, CMOM owner ITS Healthcare LLC

Join part one of this two part session to learn about how medical practices are dealing with  the changing human resource landscape. Healthcare organizations must keep their policies and procedures up to date to include topics like diversity, inclusivity, and COVID-19. Join the session for retention tips, recruitment practices and to learn how to set guidelines for remote workers. Attendees of this session will leave prepared to enact positive and compliant changes to their HR policies immediately.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Analyze the impact of COVID on HR policies and procedures
2. Examine updated processes and procedures to promote diversity and inclusivity
3. Outline action plans for recruiting, onboarding, and workforce retention

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Debra L. Phairas, MBA, president, Practice & Liability Consultants, LLC

Aging, disruptive and impaired physicians present risk to a practice from patient injury/malpractice claims, labor law/harassment claims or loss of patients via negative social media reviews. This is a difficult, sensitive issue for managers and physician partners to tackle, yet it must be done to protect the practice. Learn from real-life physician practice examples and the strategies that resolved the problematic physician issues. Attendees will learn to recognize difficult personalities or disruptive physician behavior, as well as signs of substance abuse, skill impairment and other potentially harmful issues in physicians so that you can begin to set boundaries, adopt policies and procedures for doctor/staff interactions, and implement confrontation/intervention when necessary, as well as carefully documenting to protect the practice and avoid litigation. The session also will detail when outside help (from counselors to attorneys) might be needed, as well as resources and programs to consider when handling problematic situations.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Outline signs of problematic issues and behaviors with physicians that can pose significant risk for the practice (e.g., skill impairment, substance abuse, disruptive personalities)
2. Distinguish intervention strategies for problematic physician scenarios
3. Collect crucial documentation of events to support the practice in the event of legal action

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis 
Content area: Transforming Patient Care

Speaker: Lindsay Zimmerman, PhD, MPH, managing principal, research and engagement, UpfrontHealthcare

We often talk about putting patients at the center of their own care, but do they understand what to do, where to go and when to get care? Have we made it convenient and easy? Do you know why patients would be personally motivated to take that next step in their care? Using legacy approaches such as outbound calls, mailers and impersonal templated messages can be ineffective (and expensive). Your patients expect and deserve a personal experience that anticipates their needs. This session will explore how an omnichannel, frictionless and data-driven process can engage your patients as individuals and motivate them to get the care they need from you. Attendees will learn case-study examples of the impact of digital transformation on patient experience across care coordination enrollment, necessary care completion, episode of care navigation and COVID-19 response. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Compare Northwestern Medicine and Riverside Health's approaches to building trusted relationships with patients to drive necessary visit completion
2. Outline an omnichannel, data-driven and frictionless process to guide the right patients to the care they need
3. Inspect the post-COVID-19 environment to adjust your organization's patient experience approach

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Application 
Content area: Financial Mastery

Speaker: Paola Turchi, MSHCA, FHFMA, CMPE, CPC, senior vice president, client success, Global Healthcare Resource The biggest challenges facing healthcare today — consumerism, high-deductible plans, price transparency, uninsured/underinsured patients and high denial rates, just to name a few — have prompted some practices to move their reactive time-of-service or post-visit processes to be completed in a proactive model before patients show up for appointments. This session will explore how organizations with a proactive model are capturing accurate demographic data, checking eligibility, obtaining prior-auths, estimating patients' out-of-pocket expenses, communicating payment expectations and successfully collecting pre-payments. Attendees will learn how to continuously improve this model by evaluating the accuracy of the estimates and by leveraging denial management tools to identify additional opportunities for improvement based onreal-life examples of revenue cycle processes that excel in a proactive model, supported by a continuous feedback loop and actionable data. Participants will leave the session with tools to identify opportunities and metrics to measure their success.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Solve issues inherent to reactive revenue cycle models
2. Produce pre-visit, proactive revenue cycle processes
3. Report metrics and key performance indicators to measure success

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Application 
Content area: Leading People

Speaker: Oscar Moreno, III, MBA, CMPE, practice manager II, HCA

Individuals in leadership positions sometimes feel they have reached the pinnacle of their career and take on an authoritarian leadership style, which may slow progress of the group. Agile leadership, while incorporating principles of humility and servant leadership, sets the stage for a better work environment. It puts the leader as the role model instead of a micromanager. A humble leader helps the employees to recognize their strengths and improve upon themselves, as well as identify and improve on areas of weakness. By doing so, the leader empowers each employee to grow in his/her respective role. When frontline workers are empowered, they create better, more efficient ways of doing things. This promotes accelerated forward momentum in the practice that impacts everything from volume to patient satisfaction. Agile leadership also prepares the practice for unforeseen circumstances. When frontline workers are empowered, they are ready to act with little guidance allowing leaders to focus on the more urgent matters. This presentation will define agile leadership, humility and empowerment of frontline workers, and feature interactive, roundtable discussion about differences in leadership styles. The speaker will share his experience in weathering a Category 5 hurricane and how agile leadership helped prepare the practice for the pandemic.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Discover the key characteristics of humble leadership and how to apply the principles in their own spheres of influence
2. Employ the basic principles of agile leadership and the tools necessary to begin building an agile team
3. Produce humility and agile leadership that empowers frontline workers to drive forward momentum of the practice

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Interactive | Intermediate | Application
Content area: Leading People

Speakers: Ronald Menaker, FACMPE, Ed.D., CPA, administrator, Mayo Clinic

Michael O'Connell, MHA, FACMPE, FACHE, chief operating officer, Stanford Medicine Partners

1. Discover the multifaceted perspectives in addressing leadership capabilities around resilience, confidence and optimism
2. Distinguish ways to bring out one's best self with resilience, confidence and optimism strategies
3. Apply effective resilience, confidence and optimism behaviors in your medical practice

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Evaluation | Advanced | Traditional 
Content area: Operational Excellence

Speaker: Todd D. Grages, president and chief executive officer, Methodist Physicians Clinic Creating a culture of excellence is the foundation of any organization's success in realizing consistent and continuous high performance. We're not talking about simply doing better — we're talking about a medical group with performance in the top 10% nationally year after year. It's a practicing physician-led organization with a culture where practicing physicians succeed and fail on their own merits. It's an organization where the practicing physicians learn from their good decisions and bad decisions, creating an army of physician leaders! These practicing physicians need to lead, as their medical group doesn't have any operational medical directors including not having a CMO. This session will explain three different and unique ways to assess the culture of your organization. It will discuss physician job satisfaction and the keys to success in improving it. The session will show the direct correlation a culture of excellence has to physician job satisfaction and medical group performance. It will also show the correlation between high job satisfaction to higher performance and how high scores in time spent at work in a medical group impacts physician burnout. This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Assess the culture of their organization and where there are barriers to positively advancing the culture
2. Establish keys to success in improving physician job satisfaction and mitigating burnout
3. Evaluate opportunities for physicians to succeed and fail on their own merits, absent operational medical directors or a CMO

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Content area: Leading People
 
Speakers: Kem Tolliver, CMPE CPC CMOM,  president and chief executive officer Medical Revenue Cycle Specialists
 
Taya Moheiser, CMPE, CMOM owner ITS Healthcare LLC

Continue the discussion in part two of this session to learn how medical practices are dealing with the changing human resource landscape. Healthcare organizations must keep their policies and procedures up to date to include topics like diversity, inclusivity, and COVID-19. Join the session for retention tips, recruitment practices and to learn how to set guidelines for remote workers. Attendees of this session will leave prepared to enact positive and compliant changes to their HR policies immediately.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Analyze the impact of COVID on HR policies and procedures
2. Examine updated processes and procedures to promote diversity and inclusivity
3. Outline action plans for recruiting, onboarding, and workforce retention

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis
Content area: Leading People

Speakers: Kristin Baird, RN, BSN, MHA, president and chief executive officer, Baird Group

Jessica Bush, RN, BSN, consultant, patient experience, Surgeon's Choice Medical Center

It's time to re-examine assumptions about turnover while exploring low-cost and no-cost steps to improve retention. The rate and cost of turnover in medical practices impacts morale, productivity, quality and reputation. This session combines case studies with discussion, lecture and polls for a hands-on, interactive and informative experience that takes an honest look at the numbers and focuses on what leaders can do to create and sustain a more engaged, loyal workforce. This session will examine the true cost of turnover and what can be done to retain your existing staff by keeping them engaged and invested in the organization. Attendees will learn eight actions leaders can take to strengthen the culture and become the leader nobody wants to leave. Participants will receive a self-evaluation tool and a framework for creating a three-step action plan for improving engagement and retention.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Examine the costs of employee and provider turnover (financial, quality, morale and reputation)
2. Distinguish eight actions every leader can take to start increasing engagement and decreasing turnover
3. Outline a retention strategy and concrete action plan

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis
Content area: Strategic Decisions

Speakers: Beth Leonard, chief corporate affairs officer, Emblem Health/Advantage Care Physicians of NY

1. Understand a comprehensive method for forecasting ambulatory care needs, using current data, population use rates and operational targets for resource utilization
2. Appreciate the insight provided by data analyses, clinical operations staff, interior designers, and post-occupancy evaluation for the ideal ambulatory facility.
3. Hear lessons learned from engaging patients/members about their priorities for affordable, accessible and quality healthcare

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Comprehension | Basic | Traditional 
Content Area: Operational Excellence

Speaker: M. Lee Holmes, MHA, MBA, FACHE, FACMPE, chief executive officer, MediCor Health  

Healthcare organizations are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals via ransomware attacks. Medical groups need to better understand the full scope of the threat and have a plan to respond both proactively to prevent attacks. The presentation will review a business and operational plan to mitigate the severe threat of a cyber-attack through pre-attack, during the attack and post-attack. Cyber criminals are attempting hundreds of thousands of attacks per day on medical organizations. The presentation will allow the attendee to become more educated on the risks, Improve preparedness, enhance defensive position, and mitigate financial risk.  

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Describe the operational, clinical, financial, and legal threats posed by a cyber attack 
2. Identify the contents of a thorough cyber attack preparation plan to include: insurance, education, prevention, data preservation, and recovery 
3. List the regulatory requirements and financial liability of a presumed breach

1. Examine how the patient engagement landscape has evolved and what providers need to stay competitive in today's market 
2. Analyze the strategies that Montefiore uses to improve patient access to care and prevent leakage to outside health systems  
3. Breakdown how patient engagement at every step and a strong digital front door can have an overwhelming impact on a health system's financial health and on patients' health  

1. Examine the pandemic's impact on visit volume and practice finances as it relates to business optimization and value-based care   
2. Outline a holistic approach to patient care using integrated technologies, including EHRs and telehealth platforms to stay engaged and connected with patients   
3. Classify patients by risk factors, regional access and economic variables to support better clinical and financial outcomes  

1. Identify key mistakes that small to medium-sized group practices make  
2. Interpret advice from two experienced medical practice executives on how to avoid making these mistakes  
3. Recognize proactive choices your group can make to secure its future, whether as an independent practice or part of a larger organization  

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Traditional | Intermediate | Analysis
Content area: Operational Excellence 

Speakers: Peter Altschuler, CPA, director, BRG

Jeff Zwick, consultant, BRG

Jenny Lanier, director, ambulatory operations, The University of Texas Medical Branch 

Analytics that are readily available for the day-to-day life of a clinic manager form the foundation of ongoing success in managing skill mix and staffing levels before small issues begin to snowball. Analytics can help address staffing needs by identifying busy periods where additional resources are required for patient care and also valleys where there are opportunities to flex staffing. By using a demand-based algorithm to forecast staffing needs up to 10 days in advance, managers can act before a shortage occurs. This session will analyze skill mix and resource utilization with session-based dashboards that enables managers to visualize their available capacity and avoid high-stress peaks retroactively and prospectively. The presenters will demonstrate a retroactive tool that allows for comparison of targets for skill mix and overall staffing levels allowing managers to custom-define their sessions. By using a demand-based algorithm to forecast staffing needs, managers will be able to act before a shortage occurs. Presenters will also focus on an in-depth review of the practices that enable managers to maintain financial and operational performance in a fast-changing environment. 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Calculate high- and low-demand care delivery and staffing periods
2. Prepare a session-based skill mix that factor in demand, acuity, and available capacity
3. Breakdown staffing and resource needs within individual clinics and across groups of similar clinics

ACMPE: .5 | AAPC: .5 |ACHE: .5 | CME: .5 | CEU: .5

Traditional |Basic | Comprehension 
Content area: Operational Excellence 

Speaker: Teagan Kuruna, MPH, associate content director, Phreesia 

Rose Hudepohl, practice administrator, Northeast Cincinnati Pediatric Associates
 
Patients' expectations have changed: they want the same flexible, convenient, tech-enabled experience in healthcare that they get in other areas of their lives. At the same time, practice staff are spread far too thin and are at risk of burning out. Can medical groups catch up to these expectations while relieving some of the burdens from their administrative staff? The answer is yes—by automating some of their core administrative processes.  Join this session to hear how one practice modernized their approach to patient access by implementing tools like patient self-scheduling, automated schedule management, and two-way text message communication with patients. 

The session will provide you the knowledge to:  

1. Identify solutions to provide patients with easy access to appointments
2. Describe how automating repetitive tasks allows staff to focus on higher-value work

Session Details Coming Soon!

1. Discover root causes for patient emotions and the importance of remaining calm and validating feelings without admitting fault  
2. Employ questioning techniques that help patients move from emotional to process thinking and yield info to begin the solvability process  
3. Produce scenario-based strategies for your staff to make the right decisions in offering solutions  

1. Examine the importance of compensation strategy in your progress toward value and high performance  
2. Prepare compensation best practices, including balancing productivity and non-productivity-based incentives, selecting appropriate rates and incentivizing team-based care.  
3. Breakdown how current trends are impacting provider compensation  

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Intermediate | Application | Traditional 
Content area: Financial Mastery

Speaker: Marcia Brauchler, MPH, CPC-I, FACMPE, CPHQ, president and founder, Physicians' Ally, Inc

In an ever-changing healthcare marketplace, it's interesting to see how the payers are attempting to control their provider networks to bring more stability to their bottom line. This can have massive operational and financial ramifications on your practice. This session will detail what is popping up in payer contract language and fee schedules, as well as proven strategies for addressing it. For example, if your specialty is considering anything cutting edge [such as office-based labs (OBL)], watch out for limitations on new technology. Other key areas this session will address are prohibitions on pass-through billing, as well as attempted limits on private practice acquisitions via non-assignment clauses. Attendees will learn actual language from payer agreements to wathch for, as well as helpful reminders about traditional language terms that can have an adverse financial impact on your practice (e.g., notice of material changes, term language lock-ins, all product participation requirements, penalties for non-timely demographic updates). 

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Discover new language relevant to billing operations that directly and adversely impact revenue, including the incorporation of new E/M documentation standards in commercial agreements
2. Employ strategies to reduce obligations imposed by compliance and credentialing requirements often found in payer contract language
3. Use real-life examples of new payer contract language to avoid additions that could impede a practice's strategic growth plan in areas such as expanded ancillary services, practice acquisition 

1. Outline how value-based care tools and software can streamline workflows and improve efficiencies  
2. Survey how health systems and providers can leverage ACO data analytics to improve quality outcomes and revenue streams  
3. Examine real-world case studies of hospitals and providers achieving outstanding performance in value-based care through enhanced data and technologies  

1. Manage current challenges and opportunities for new provider onboarding and payer credentialing processes  
2. Discover opportunities for process streamlining and technology adoption that expedites credentialing administrative processes  
3. Apply improvement strategies for internal staff practice processes for effective provider onboarding  

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Session Details Coming Soon!

ACMPE: 1 | AAPC: 1 |ACHE: 1 | CME: 1 | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1

Content area: Leading People 
Basic | Comprehension | Traditional 

Speakers: Nakin Bhandari, MHA, CHFP, financial analyst, Stanford Health Care 

Joseph De Los Santos, MHA, manager, payment innovation program, Blue Shield of California 

Freddy Terrazas Escamilla, MHA, senior strategy consultant, Mayo Clinic 
 
The Becoming Your Own Boss: BYOB -- The Healthcare Podcast is a new podcast sponsored by MGMA designed for students and early careerists to help them unpack complex policy and industry topics and highlight important skills and experiences as they aspire to advance their careers. This session is a panel of the podcast’s hosts, who bring different perspectives as they navigate the early part of their own careers. The discussion will focus on three important steps in a young professional’s early career: exploring the numerous career options for students, highlighting important strategies to succeed at your first job, and transitioning towards the next steps in your career. Panelists will describe their experiences applying to fellowships, leadership programs, and jobs and how they landed their first opportunities after graduate school. They will then describe navigating the internal dynamics of each of these paths, both the highlights and challenges. Finally, they will discuss different strategies to advance the careers of those new to the profession.  

This session will provide you with the knowledge to: 

1. Identify career options including administrative fellowships, leadership programs, payers, and administrative jobs at a health system  
2. Discuss strategies and tips to ensure success while navigating through a new organization, whether at a fellowship, leadership program, or start-up 
3. Describe the knowledge and skills needed to transition to the next opportunity early in your career

ACMPE: .5 | AAPC: .5 |ACHE: .5 | CME: .5 | CEU: .5

Basic | Comprehension | Traditional 
Content area: Operational Excellence 

Speaker: Matt McDonough, JD, MB, vice president, national network strategy, UnitedHealthcare

Our health care system is unsustainable – it’s too complex and too costly. We need solutions that will bring real and lasting change to simplify processes for healthcare professionals and help patients lower their out-of-pocket costs. This session will highlight a case study that features an innovative physician engagement and rewards model that transforms how we work together to better support patient care through elevated engagement, enhanced service, and digital solutions.  Attendees will share perspectives around collaborative performance metrics, incentives, and rewards for physician groups, helping to inform future programs that advance our shared commitment by connecting patients to high-quality, cost-efficient care. Additionally, attendees will learn how we’re collaborating with health care professionals through a four-market pilot of High Performing Physicians.

This session will provide you with the knowledge to:.

1. Explore the power of data and insights to drive a better consumer experience, improved health outcomes, and more affordable, high-quality care
2. Describe best practices around engaging providers and sharing actionable data with all practices, not just high performing, to further enable performance
3. Provide perspectives on clinical and network performance metrics, discuss engagement opportunities and offer input on rewards and incentives that will drive collaboration based on practice size and role

ACMPE: 1. | AAPC: 1. |ACHE: 1. | CME: 1. | CPE: 1.2 | CEU: 1.

Traditional | Basic | Comprehension 
Content area: Leading people 

Speaker: Erik Wahl, internationally recognized artist, TED speaker and No. 1 bestselling author 

Today's leaders face pressure to innovate—or else perish—unlike any other time in history.  Advances in social, mobile and cloud technology, coupled with fierce global competition, have made the business landscape nearly unrecognizable from what it was a mere ten years ago. Erik Wahl's entertaining and invigorating Art of Leadership presentation paints a compelling new portrait of how the successful leaders of tomorrow will look. He inspires audiences to shed old ways of thinking and "business as usual" processes that are outdated, inefficient and detrimental to productivity. Attend this session to see how leaders who demonstrate authenticity, curiosity, exploration, and purpose lead to more meaningful connections among team members, clients, and customers—and ultimately, a more profitable organization.
    
This session will provide you with the knowledge to:

1. Describe innovative solutions to further your organization
2. Identify new ways to attract and engage employees
3. Discuss new efficiencies and the end of detrimental redundancies