Each year ASCA offers monthly webinars covering a variety of topics including Quality Reporting Requirements, Coding, Human Resources, CMS Conditions for Coverage, and much more. Each webinar lasts one hour and allows attendees to learn from the comfort of their offices, no travel required. ASCA members receive a discounted fee, and a select few webinars are available for free to ASCA members.
Analyzing Your Revenue Cycle
Date/Time: Tuesday, May 22, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Lisa Rock, President, National Medical Billing Services
Overview: Whether your ASC is functioning at its optimum level of financial performance or in need of fine-tuning, this program is an excellent resource to reaffirm and/or assist in your facility's performance improvement. A revenue cycle performance analysis is an excellent tool for identifying areas of lost potential. National Medical Billing Services (NMBS) will discuss how to analyze your revenue cycle using several key performance indicators, including case mix/count, payer mix, days to bill and days in A/R. In-network and out-of-network challenges will be discussed.
Quality Measure Reporting in 2012
Date/Time: Tuesday, June 5, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: ASCA Staff
Overview: Quality measure reporting has become a reality for ASCs. This webinar will provide you with the most up-to-date information available about which measures your ASC will need to report in 2012, and how to report them in order to avoid reduced payments from Medicare in the future. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their specific concerns with the presenter(s) at the end of the program.
Please note: There is no charge for this webinar. Continuing education credits are not provided.
Revisiting Your Surgery Center’s Infection Control Plan—An Annual “Checkup” for Ensuring Regulatory and Accreditation Survey Compliance
Date/Time: Tuesday, June 26, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Lee Anne Blackwell, RN, BSN, EMBA, CNOR, Group Director Clinical Services, Team UP, Surgical Care Affiliates
Overview: ASC infection prevention programs and policies have been getting a lot of attention since Medicare released its revised Conditions for Coverage for ASCs in May 2009. Current regulatory and accreditation survey trends continue to reveal concerns about complying with Medicare’s new infection prevention guidelines within ASCs nationwide. This session will explore 10 areas that you can focus on to ensure that your center’s infection control plan is in compliance with Medicare’s regulatory requirements and national accreditation standards.
Targeted Solutions Tool™: Reducing Risk. Reducing Wrong Site Surgery.
Date/Time: Tuesday, July 10, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Melody Dickerson, RN, MSN, Master Black Belt, The Joint Commission
Overview: Ambulatory surgery centers can get a hands-on demonstration of The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare’s new Targeted Solutions ToolTM (TST) for Wrong Site Surgery. The TST guides health care organizations through a step-by-step process that helps identify, measure and reduce risks in key processes that can contribute to a wrong site/side/patient/procedure surgery. Joint Commission Master Black Belt Melody Dickerson will walk participants through the tool. A question and answer session will follow.
10 Best Practices for 2012 ASC Payer Contracting Negotiations
Date/Time: Tuesday, July 31, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Susan Charkin, MPH, President, Healthcents
Overview: Participants in this webinar will learn how to
- evaluate a managed care contract proposal and prepare a SWOT analysis to identify opportunities and threats on behalf of an ASC;
- carry out a managed care proposal reimbursement analysis using patented software to compare proposed reimbursement rates to similar providers in a defined geographic area and to compare payer fee schedules;
- learn new techniques for negotiating “win- win” arrangements with managed care companies;
- manage business operations that track actual reimbursements compared to contracted payment expectations and ensure that you are not underpaid; and
- evaluate in-network vs. out-of-network options and maximize your billed charges to uniform, customary & reasonable (UCR) levels.
Preparing for 2013—Medicare’s Proposed Rule
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 14, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Jonathan Beal and Marian Lowe, ASCA Health Care Policy Consultants
Overview: How will Medicare’s proposed 2013 ASC payment rates, new procedures, and policies affect your ASC? Get the answers to this question and more during ASCA’s one-hour webinar “Preparing for 2013—Medicare Proposed Rule.” Join the ASCA staff for an in-depth look at Medicare’s proposed 2013 ASC payment policies and get the information you need to make sure your ASC is prepared for these important changes. Participants can submit questions during the presentation and discuss specific issues with the presenter(s) at the end of the program.
Personnel Challenges that Tax ASCs
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 28, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Ann Geier MS RN CNOR CASC, Sr. Vice President of Operations, Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America
Overview: Many ASC managers experience burnout after a few years. When they are asked what’s getting under their skin, they will say that managing employees and human resource issues saps their energy. Some who have moved to other roles say that they feel as if they’ve escaped from this daily responsibility. This webinar will cover a few key areas that cause these headaches: training and orientation of new employees; motivating employees to perform beyond the basic job description; and controlling staffing costs while struggling to keep less than full-time employees. Ideas will be presented to help managers relieve the stress of managing people—an ASC’s most valuable asset.
Quality Measure Reporting
Date/Time: Thursday, September 6, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: ASCA Staff
Overview: This webinar will provide you with information about implementing an ASC quality reporting program. You will learn about the 2012 quality measures, and how to report them in order to avoid reduced payments from Medicare in the future. Information will also be provided in regards to future quality measure reporting. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their specific concerns with the presenter(s) at the end of the program.
Please note: There is no charge for this webinar. Continuing education credits are not provided.
Tough Coding Issues for Pain Management
Date/Time: Tuesday, September 18, 1:00 pm ET
Speakers: Lisa Rock, President, Tamara Wagner (BS, CPC), Vice President, Coding, and Jessica Edmiston (BS, CPC, CASCC), Manager, Coding, National Medical Billing Services
Overview: Coding can literally make or break an ASC. This presentation will discuss how to make sure your ASC isn’t leaving money on the table—and is fully compliant. National Medical Billing Services (NMBS) is a national revenue cycle management company that focuses solely on servicing ASCs and their affiliated surgeons. During this webinar, you’ll gain insights from NMBS leadership about
- documentation challenges,
- local coverage determination (LCDs)
- peripheral subcutaneous field stimulation,
- radiofrequency ablation (RFA) codes and reporting guidelines, and
An ASC’s Guide to Evaluating Anesthesia Support, Stipends, and More
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 9, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: TBD
Overview: Are anesthesia providers at your facility asking for support or a stipend? This webinar discusses techniques for evaluating the need for support or a stipend and how to successfully negotiate terms that make sense for both the facility and the anesthesia providers. General concepts to be discussed include; OR scheduling, OR efficiency, payer mix, coverage, requirements for anesthesia groups, and scheduling demands for surgeons.
Documentation Deficiencies that Impact Reimbursement for ASCs
Date/Time: Tuesday, November 13, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Stephanie Ellis, RN, CPC, Ellis Medical Consulting, Inc.
Overview: Documentation deficiencies can impact reimbursement and expose your ASC to significant compliance risks. Using template or deficient operative reports will prove costly for your ASC if not corrected. This seminar will assist your ASC in identifying its most common documentation challenges, the compliance issues and repercussions surrounding the lack of detailed documentation and best practices for solving your documentation challenges.
Preparing for 2013 Medicare’s Final Rule
Date/Time: Tuesday, December 18, 1:00 pm ET
Speaker: Jonathan Beal, ASCA
Overview: Get the information you need about Medicare’s quality reporting requirements and 2013 ASC payment system to ensure your ASC’s peak performance. Participants in this webinar will
- learn which quality measures your ASC will need to report in 2013, and how to report them;
- learn which new procedures Medicare will reimburse ASCs for providing in 2013; and
- have an opportunity to submit questions that will be answered during the webinar.