September 18, 2024

New Product from FMT: Workforce Toolkit to Support Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Providers

The Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) has released a new product, the Workforce Toolkit to Support Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Providers.

This toolkit:

• provides background on health care workforce challenges in the U.S.,
• describes common workforce challenges faced by Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and
• provides examples and links to external resources that CAHs may use to address their own workforce needs and enhance recruitment and retention.

The toolkit includes five modules that discuss key workforce challenges and resources by topic:

• Introductory module that summarizes broad challenges in the rural health care workforce
• Organizational culture and leadership
• Leveraging partnerships
• Emergency medical services workforce
• Administrative and support staff workforce

Each module exists as a standalone webpage on the FMT website, and the FMT has also created PDF versions of each module that may be saved locally or printed for reference.

Click Here to View Toolkit

September 17, 2024

Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools Available to You

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has curated a database of free cybersecurity services and tools as part of their continuing mission to reduce cybersecurity risk across U.S. critical infrastructure partners and state, local, tribal and territorial governments.

What’s included:

• CISA’s no-cost, in-house cybersecurity services designed to help individuals and organizations build and maintain a robust and resilient cyber framework
• An extensive selection of free cybersecurity services and tools provided by the private and public sector to help organizations further advance their security capabilities
• CISA has also initiated a process for organizations to submit additional free tools and services for inclusion on this list

All organizations should take certain foundational measures to implement a strong cybersecurity program before requesting a service or further exploring resources.

Start with these Top 3 Services:

• Connect with your Regional Cybersecurity Advisor (CSA)
  • CISA’s program of work is carried out across the nation by personnel assigned to its 10 regional offices.
  • Region 7 CSA contact: CISARegion7@cisa.dhs.gov
• Sign up for Cyber Hygiene Services
  • CISA’s Cyber Hygiene services help secure internet-facing systems from weak configurations and known vulnerabilities
  • Email vulnerability@cisa.dhs.gov to enroll in Cyber Hygiene
• Cybersecurity Performance Goal (CPG) Assessment
  • CISA’s CPGs are a common set of practices all organizations should implement to kickstart their cybersecurity efforts
  • Small and medium-sized organizations can use the CPGs to prioritize investment in a limited number of essential actions with high-impact security outcomes.
  • CISA has mapped the free services in the Free Cybersecurity Tool & Services database
  • Click Here to learn more about CPGS

Click Here to Access CISA’s Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools

September 17, 2024

CMS Releases Revised Guidance for Rural Emergency Hospital Provisions, Conversion Process and Conditions of Participation

The Centers for Medicaid Services & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released guidance regarding the enrollment and conversion process for eligible facilities interested in participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as a Rural Emergency Hospital (REH).

Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs) are a new provider type established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to address concerns over rural hospital closures. REHs provide emergency and outpatient medical and health services to patients that generally stay less than 24 hours.

As of January 1, 2023, Medicare pays REHs an additional 5% over the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rate to deliver emergency hospital, observation, and other outpatient services to Medicare patients. Medicare-covered REH services include all covered out-patient services, including radiology, laboratory, outpatient rehabilitation, surgical, maternal health, and behavioral health. Copayments for REH services are based on the standard OPPS rate (excluding the 5% increase).

For more information and links to the final rule, visit the CMS webpage for Rural Emergency Hospitals.

Click Here to view the Rural Emergency Hospital factsheet

September 17, 2024

Hospital OPPS Update

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published an OPPS update summarized in a recent MLN Matter fact sheet MM13784.

Affected providers are:

• Physicians
• Hospitals
• Home Health and Hospice
• Other providers billing Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) for services provided to Medicare patients

Download the fact sheet and make sure your billing staff knows about updates for:

• Proprietary Laboratory Analyses (PLA) codes
• Device pass-through
• Drugs, biologicals, and radiopharmaceuticals
• Skin substitutes
• Blood products
• Other coding changes

Click Here to Download fact sheet

September 17, 2024

Updated Fact Sheet: Collaborative Patient Care is a Provider Partnership

HIPAA, the Health Insurance portability and Accountability act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule allows you to disclose protected health information (PHI) without patient authorization to other health care providers also covered under the HIPAA rule.

• You cannot charge for providing requested documentation to another health care provider
• It is not a HIPAA violation, provided you need to provide the information for patient treatment, payment, or health care operations

Reminders:

• Be sure to document, share, and maintain all necessary documentation related to an order, referral, supply or service
• You need to provide thorough and accurate documentation to support medical necessity for services or items you provide or order
• The documentation should provide a thorough picture of what happened during the patient’s visit and tell why services or items you ordered or provided are medially necessary
• Make sure you meet all policy and coverage specific requirements

Click Here to View Updated Fact Sheet