News From ChargeAssist®

4/26/23 – CMS Price Transparency Changes

ChargeAssist® users were provided the CMS Fact Sheet published on 4/26 that outlines new penalties from CMS on failure to comply with regulatory requirements. Civil monetary penalties (CMPs) as well as details on corrective action plans and timelines are listed in the announcement. Users should review the Document Center for this important update.

4/27/23 – ChargeAssist® HFMA Peer Reviewed Designation is now part of Panacea® Peer Review

ChargeAssist®  HFMA Peer Reviewed designation is now included in the Panacea® suite of tools.

If interested in the results of the Peer Reviewed process, contact us at (800) 831-3323 ext 2 and speak with Bud Carroll, Executive Vice President, Panacea Healthcare Solutions.

The notice from HFMA is as follows: “HFMA staff and volunteers determined that CDMauditor®: Compliance and Pricing Suites, including ChargeAssist®, Hospital Zero-Base Pricing® and related modules, including Price Transparency, have met certain criteria developed under the HFMA Peer Review Process. HFMA does not endorse or guarantee the use of this service.”

3/4/23 – COVID-19 Wind-Down Strategic Information

ChargeAssist® users have received a series of articles over the past weeks with tips on planning for the COVID-19 PHE wind-down announced by the White House, HHS, and CMS. We encourage all hospitals to begin planning as CMS ends certain flexibilities, waivers and benefits.

12/13/22 – 2023 Charge Master Updates Program 

A record number of ChargeAssist® users have viewed the 2023 Charge Master Updates Educational Program. In addition to an extensive 230 page/ 31 chapter training manual, 23 separate topic-specific or department-specific streaming webinars were also deployed and are still available for viewing within the tool. 

9/1/22 – The ChargeAssist® Product celebrates another round of excellent HFMA Peer Reviewed® results

ChargeAssist®, a web-based all-in-one charge management software tool and Panacea® Healthcare Solutions product, celebrated its best-ever HFMA Peer Reviewed® results last month with the release of the Peer Review Final Report and detailed assessment comments. We are grateful to all customers and HFMA panel members who participated in the in-depth assessments and surveys for such an overwhelmingly positive response.

In August 2022, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) officially renewed the ChargeAssist® Peer Reviewed® Designation.  As stated by HFMA, “The Peer Review program is designed to help healthcare executives identify high-quality products and services based on ability to demonstrate value, effectiveness, and ease of use among other key purchasing criteria. The program consists of a rigorous 11-step, high-level screening process by a peer review panel consisting of current customers, prospects/non-purchasers who have not made a purchase, and expert HFMA Peer Review members.”

Anyone interested in learning more about this designation or the results of this process can contact us at Support@chargeassist.com.

8/2/22 – Holliday & Associates joining forces with industry leader, Panacea® Healthcare Solutions

Formed in 1990, the H&A team has remained dedicated to providing expertise in Charge Master Management solutions for the healthcare industry. Company successes include internal development and deployment of two separate Charge Master software tools (both awarded HFMA Peer Reviewed® designation), hundreds of successful nationwide CDM Review engagements, and decades of popular Charge Master Educational Programs for CDM Managers/ Coordinators and Revenue Cycle Teams.

In the last few years, many of our customers reached out seeking help with strategic pricing, price transparency, and other revenue-oriented solutions. To assist in these needs, H&A has forged solid business partnerships with leading industry providers (including HIS vendors, Consulting Firms, and Revenue Cycle Software & Consulting companies).

On August 8th, Holliday & Associates partnered with two market leaders in revenue integrity and physician compliance to expand our mutual product and service options. This brings each Division’s solutions to an extensive customer base of some of the Nation’s best healthcare systems, small hospitals, and physician practices. The business transaction was funded with growth capital investment from Firmament, a leading provider of structured equity capital solutions to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Holliday & Associates, First Healthcare Compliance, and Panacea Healthcare Inc. are now one- Panacea® Healthcare Solutions, LLC.

With this step, our clients will benefit as we integrate to become one of the industry’s most comprehensive providers of top-quality revenue cycle and compliance software, consulting, and educational solutions.

The same H&A team and leadership remain in place to serve our loyal customers and business colleagues.

4/1/22 – Document Library Update & Product Enhancements

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers summarizing all CMS OPPS, MPFS, OCE, and other payment system updates for second quarter 2022. This update also included some new product enhancements outlined in the What’s New page. Call our offices or e-mail us for our quarterly update article if you’d like to see this popular compilation of CMS updates for the quarter.

3/30/22 – Data Updates

ChargeAssist® updates were published today with updates to codes, edits, and payment system data. We also notified customers of our identification of two errors from CMS that they subsequently revised after being alerted by our team.

3/26/22 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers summarizing the hospital NCCI edits for second quarter 2022. This version of edits (in the hospital code pairs alone) included 2,945 new code pairings. The article summarizes by code type the changes that NCCI released. Such edits not only impact claims edits and billing, but often charge protocol and charging practices. Contact our offices to see how ChargeAssist displays NCCI data and for a copy of this summary article.

3/25/22 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on important regulatory updates from CMS on the definition of implants.  This updates our 2/27/18 last version of our popular long-running article “Charge Master Implant Issues: Revisiting Definitions”. This article includes some long-awaited manualization of language for which CMS has remained largely silent, and may impact your CDM charge definitions. Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post or view through this link: https://www.chargeassist.com/cdm-implant-definitions-now-more-clear/

2/27/22 – Product News

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the new and improved ChargeAssist®. Over the past year, users have been thrilled with the product’s speed, data processing capabilities, and ease of use. Hospitals and Health Systems nationwide of all sizes (CAH to multi-hospital systems) are moving from other tools to ChargeAssist®. Call today to arrange a product demonstration and strategic call with our Managing Partners.

2/13/22 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article on January 2022 Price Transparency was posted for customers broken into three blog posts available to the public. These posts cover the rise of advocacy group research and reporting of hospital performance with price transparency, and the negative press that has arisen. We also cover tactical mistakes we’ve witnessed over the past few years as well as an update on new fines from CMS on the failure to comply with regulatory requirements. Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog posts or by clicking here: https://www.chargeassist.com/charge-management-news-center/ 

1/13/22 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on January 2022 Price Transparency regulatory updates from CMS with a blog post available to the public. This article covered the CMS Final Rule’s updates for 2022 including the dramatic announcement of increased fines.  Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post or by clicking here: https://www.chargeassist.com/charge-management-news-center/

2/27/21 – Product News

A new and improved version of ChargeAssist® was rolled out today with new look, functions, and features. All past modules are still available with expanded help text and videos to make it easy for new users. Hospital as well as our consultant product customers will love the new functions of the gridviews and ability to report out any data that is being viewed at a push of a button. Your immediately appreciate the product’s dramatically-improved processing speed as you audit your pharmacy, multi-hospital files, or perform other data intensive functions. Users interested in a debrief on the updates can call our office to set up a personal session with our team.

1/13/21 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on AMA Consumer-Friendly Description updates from AMA with a blog post available to the public. This article covered the detailed nuances of the AMA changes to this code-specific data field. (Updates and changes were not published as change or errata content, and require analysis for those organizations that may use this field for certain masterfile content).  Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post or by clicking here: https://www.chargeassist.com/chargemaster-management-best-practices-cpt-consumer-friendly-descriptors/

8/25/20 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on Charging for Remote & Virtual Services During the PHE. This topic has challenged both hospitals and consultants alike during the Public Health Emergency. Our team has attended every CMS Office Hours call (from twice weekly to the current every two weeks) to hear from the source how hospitals should charge and bill under the waivers that have been provided. Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post.

5/20/19 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on Insider Tips for Chargemaster software selection. This was a revamp of an article in our archives made available based on market requests and public interest. Additional product evaluation tools are provided upon request along with strategic no charge calls with our Managing Partners.  Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post or by clicking here: https://www.chargeassist.com/more-insider-tips-for-cdm-software-selection/

3/7/19 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on Department CDM update internal evaluations. Hospitals looking back at their big annual CDM update success often need to hear from their Department representatives on how to do a better job. Additional CDM Management evaluation tools are provided upon request along with strategic no charge calls with our Managing Partners on education and process improvement assistance.  Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post.

2/11/19 – ChargeAssist® Update News

A ChargeAssist® Update News article was posted for customers on Annual CDM Update Tasks Your Team Can Easily Miss. This was a revamp of past articles in our archives and in our CDM Management Educational Program. Our consulting team finds that hospitals often fail to perform many analytical and data review activities when the significant annual updates occur with coding and payment policies. Partial or incomplete updates result in risk of missing key changes from both CMS and AMA.  Click on the “News Center” icon on the menu bar to read the public blog post.

01/01/19 – Product News

ChargeAssist® CDM Public Portal

Holliday & Associates, a leading provider of web-based chargemaster management solutions, released its ChargeAssist® Chargemaster Public Portal in early December. Using the portal, small hospitals as well as multi-entity healthcare systems have complied with the 2019 Medicare Hospital Price Transparency mandate while also ensuring a more favorable public reception. The Chargemaster Public Portal is a patient-friendly solution for researching hospital charge prices through a URL posted on the facility’s website.

Bud Carroll, Managing Partner and developer of the company’s flagship product, ChargeAssist®, stated “We developed the portal application to support our ChargeAssist® customers. Because of the large number of inquiries, we decided to offer it to all hospitals. The Chargemaster Public Portal is a more a favorable solution than clumsy file displays that can frustrate potential patients shopping for services. Within an hour of staging access, customers have a user-friendly gateway to their charge pricing information.”
 
Rosemary Holliday, MHA, Managing Partner of Holliday & Associates, commented “Hospital teams have dedicated countless hours developing strategies for the Medicare requirements. Now, they face either criticism or public support based on the impression the Charge Master makes. We’re happy to help new customers in 2019 with software, strategies, and resources to help educate the shopping public”.