For the Business Office
Welcome to 2022 everyone. May this be a year of health and success. With the number of facilities we know experiencing growing cases of Omicron, it seems the numbers are not going to look good for a bit, but hopefully by February/March things will be looking brighter.
Important Note: The CMS 3 day qualifying stay waiver expired on 1/16/22, but an announcement from the HHS secretary on January14th (see here) gives us a sense of what is coming. We are anticipating another 90 day extension, though we still do not have formal notification from CMS.
Quick thoughts for your business office for 2022:
If you make frequent adjustments to your AR balances, you may need to look at your software setup. Properly set up billing software should have correct rates tied to census, which should limit adjustments that need to be made after payments come in. Manual adjustments create opportunity for human error and potential lost reimbursements.
Health plans and Managed Care Payers are expanding in all directions. Establishing partnerships with health plans can be a good way to build relationships and enhance your census. In California, Anthem and Healthnet are two examples of actively expanding health plans.
During difficult times like these, it can be helpful to remember the ever growing population of seniors who will need our care into the future. Our work is crucial and our organizational missions will live on.
As always, LTC is standing by to answer questions or help manage business office challenges large or small.
