You are hereby notified that the General Business Meeting of the Nebraska Chiropractic Physicians Association, Inc., a Nebraska non-profit corporation (the “corporation”), shall be held on March 12, 2022 at 12:00pm, at Embassy Suites La Vista, 12520 Westport Pkwy, La Vista, NE 68128.
We look forward to seeing you in March for another great convention!
]]>To raise awareness of February being American Heart Month, the NCPA is proud to partner with Lifeguard MD to bring an incredible lifesaving opportunity to our members. NCPA members can purchase a discounted automatic external defibrillator (AED) package for their offices, and the NCPA will underwrite a portion of the cost!
Are you thinking- is it worth the investment? Definitely! See below for frequently asked questions about the importance of an AED and learn how to take advantage of this offer.
Why would I need an AED in my office?
The standard of care is changing as most public places now have an AED available. Sudden cardiac arrest can happen anytime, anywhere. During a cardiac arrest event, the heart loses its ability to function, leading to reduced breathing and a loss of consciousness. Often this occurs due to a problem with the heart’s electrical system.
At some point in the future, it will be expected that AEDs be widely available and there could be potential liability if you do not have an AED accessible. It is our belief that we have an obligation as providers to protect our patients and having an AED in the office will parallel chiropractic to other health care professions.
Do AEDs really work?
In 2012, 424,000 people in the United States suffered sudden cardiac arrest outside of the hospital. Unfortunately, only 23,000, or 5% of those individuals, survived. An AED gives a sudden cardiac arrest victim over a 90% chance of survival if shocked within the first three minutes. If access to CPR and an AED were available to all of those 424,000 victims, it could have resulted in over 360,000 lives being saved.
What is the cost and what is included in the AED package?
The ZOLL® AED Plus® defibrillator package is valued at over $1,941.00. The NCPA will provide a $600 instant savings upon purchase to bring the out-of-pocket cost for each office down to $790.00.
- ZOLL® AED Plus® with carry case & alarmed Cabinet
- AED Location Poster & AED Equipped Decal
- V-Shaped AED Sign for over the cabinet
- Inspection Tag
- Tracking and Tracing of your AED
- Notification when pads or batteries need to be replaced
- Access to LifeGuard MDs expert help desk
Why did the NCPA choose LifeGuard as their preferred AED vendor?
LifeGuard MD is the largest and most trusted provider of AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators) in the Midwest since 2003. They are number one in customer retention for the United States because they are committed to providing excellence and expertise in their industry. They offer turnkey, life-saving programs, not just a box on the wall. LifeGuard MD stands beside their customers through every step in the implementation and maintenance of their life-saving AED program.
How do I take advantage of this offer and when does it expire?
All orders must be placed by March 31, 2022. To take advantage of this incredible opportunity, you can:
- Call (402) 898-4141
- Email info@lifeguardmdusa.com
- Visit https://www.lifeguardmdusa.com/neonsitepackage and use the password AEDDISCOUNT
- Stop by the LifeGuard MD booth at the upcoming March convention.
Also, stay tuned in 2022! The NCPA plans to offer CPR/AED training for all members. Details to be announced soon.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Hope to see you in March!
Kind regards,
Nicholas Payne, DC
Executive Director
]]>Over the last few weeks, some of you have received a CBR report from CMS. There have been a few questions on the CBR, so I wanted to get the information out to everyone for additional clarification.
The CBR is an educational tool. As it states, it does not mean you have done anything wrong, and it does not mean you will be audited. That said, it is sent to doctors that are statistically out of the normal pattern, and when assigning audits, CMS uses a statistical assessment to find abnormal practices compared to their peers. While getting a CBR does not mean you will necessarily get an audit, it does mean you are popping on their radar in a way that could potentially lead to one in the future. This is a good opportunity to assess your practices and consider if changes should be made.
This CBR compared you to your peers both statewide and nationally on three metrics:
- The first metric is allowed services per beneficiary and would be affected by the average number of times you see a Medicare patient. Seeing your patients more times per year than your peers would cause you to be high in this category.
- The second metric is the percentage of visits billed with a 98942. This is a metric they have long looked at. The 98942 requires extensive supportive information in the notes so they consider it unlikely to be used very frequently.
- The third metric is more interesting, and I will go a little further into this one. This deals with the percentage of patients that are assigned an AT modifier. I have heard from many doctors that got a 100% in this category. Interestingly, the state and national percentages are also 100%. They addressed how you could be higher if you are equal to the average during the CMS class. They are claiming that the state and local averages are 99.??? and they did not have enough digits, and it was rounded to 100%….so if you are 100%, you are technically higher. My bigger concern is how these can all be 100%. During the last call, they mentioned something interesting: these numbers were based on PAID CLAIMS, and while I won’t go into depth here, I think the data may be faulty. While they claimed the data included those claims paid at $0, I question if the data includes those visits filed with a GA modifier that were, therefore, “paid” at $0. I intend to look into this further, and I am reaching out to WPS to make them aware of the potential issue.
This situation does, however, give me the chance to drive home a couple of points on the third metric. Other entities have taught to push the patient to choose option two on the ABN because filing maintenance care visits with a GA would increase your visit counts and could lead to an audit. I have LONG argued that filing maintenance care visits with a GA modifier is a good thing because it shows CMS that you are doing maintenance care and properly filing it with a GA modifier. This analysis proves that CMS is looking to see those maintenance care charges with a GA modifier, and if you are not sending them, it may make you stick out statistically, with the inference being that you are filing everything with an AT modifier and that may lead to an audit. So, encouraging a patient to choose option two on the ABN is not only a violation of the rules, but it may also be bad for you as well.
My second point would be that while some doctors may not do maintenance care and never file a GA modifier……and that is ok… if you are doing maintenance care and filing it with an AT modifier you should consider changing your practices to avoid audits and recoupments. This is a metric that they have obviously been looking at for years and continue to focus on.
Again, the CBR is not a sign you are doing something wrong. Sometimes people are statistically different for a number of reasons. This is an educational tool with the intent to make you look at your practice model and make sure you are doing things the way they are intended to be done.
If you have other questions, please feel free to reach out to me at MedicareNebraska@NCPA.net.
Have a Great Day!
Brad Stauffer, DC
Nebraska Medicare CAC Representative
]]>A few weeks ago, I sent out information regarding CMS’s new No Surprises Medical Billing Act. As we continue investigating this new law, we have found that the “Good Faith Estimate” portion of the law will apply to self-pay patients in your office. The language of this law will apply regardless of whether they have no insurance or choose not to use the benefits they have.
For clarification of the new law, it is recommended for you to read through the attached documents developed by the Illinois Chiropractic Society. They have shared them nationally and rather than reinventing the wheel, we are providing you with the following:
- An explanation of the law and steps you need to take to be compliant. Click Here
- A PDF of the poster that must be hung in your office. Click Here
- A word document with specific language for your website. Click Here
- An estimation form that you can customize for your office and use with your cash patients. Click Here
It is critical for you to take a few minutes to review these documents and start implementing them in your office. If you do not comply and the patient files a grievance, it can result in CMS determining how much your cash patient owes, and CMS can levy significant fines for non-compliance. I realize that this new law is confusing and frustrating, but we are all going to have to deal with these changes. Before I get asked the question- yes, you must complete these tasks even if you are an all-cash practice that has stayed away from taking Medicare or insurance. In fact, it will apply to 100% of the patients in those offices.
There are currently lawsuits filed about this act, but I don’t expect any of this to be settled soon. Also, I don’t know that the most prominent cases would overturn this law. They would potentially tweak the language in the law and most likely, not the portion that applies to us.
Additional rules are coming about insured patients, but that implementation has been postponed as they seek to find a workable way to have insurance companies provide estimates to patients. I am sure there will be much more information to come on this topic. Please watch for additional updates.
Brad Stauffer, DC
Nebraska Medicare CAC Representative
]]>As we continue to rollout the new NCPA website, we wanted to share a video about logging in, reviewing your account features including CE tracking, updating payments, and overall changes to the public and member sides of the website. Please note that only hours earned from the NCPA were able to be carried over to the new system so if you previously uploaded additional documents to the old website, those will not be listed. Please click here to watch the video.
Save the Date! The March convention will be held on March 10-13, 2022 at the Embassy Suites La Vista. Details on how to register for the upcoming March convention will be sent tomorrow as this process is completely different. We appreciate your patience through this process!
If you have questions about your account, please contact us at (402) 934-4744, option 5 or via email at info@nebraskachiropractic.org.
Kind regards,
Lori Beck
Director of Marketing and Events
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Dear NCPA Member,
Calling all members! We need as many members as possible to attend the 2022 Legislative Reception to be held on Monday, January 31, 2022, from 5:30-8:00pm, at the Cornhusker Marriott in Lincoln. This event provides an opportunity to get to know our state senators personally, and most importantly, gives us the chance to educate them on the importance and value of chiropractic care. You are welcome to bring a guest, and please note, the dress code is business professional.
Please RSVP by January 26, 2022. To register, please click here.
Please call or email me if you have any questions. We hope you will make plans to attend this important event!
Kind regards,
Lori Beck
Director of Marketing and Events
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Click the picture above to watch the introduction video or copy and paste this link: https://vimeo.com/659130196/0809427a5a
Happy New Year! We are excited to announce that we have launched a new website to better serve you and improve how we communicate to the public about the benefits of chiropractic, types of chiropractic treatments available, the research supporting chiropractic use, and much more.
Along with the new public website, we have also completed our transition to CE21 creating a members-only portal. With this transition, you now have an additional way to interact with the NCPA. CE21 will allow you to handle tasks such as managing your membership, updating payments, registering for events, and downloading CE certificates. This area will also house all member resources, such as compliance documents, announcements, and other features. You can manage all these actions in one spot on your schedule.
But don’t worry, we are still here to help you with any of these tasks. We have created a new Member and Provider Services department that will be happy to help you with any issues or questions. We are only a phone call or an email away.
To get started on the transition, you will soon be receiving an email from info@nebraskachiropractic.org with specific instructions on how to log-in to your CE21 account. Please be sure to check your spam folders and accept the email address above as an approved sender. We encourage you to take a few minutes to log in and update your profile. Your contact information is critical for the Find a Doctor feature that we direct the public to use.
If you have any issues, please give us a call. We will be sending a few more communications about the transition over the next few weeks, so stay tuned! We look forward to a great 2022!
Kind regards,
Lori Beck
Director of Marketing and Events
Please note that each member will need a unique email address for their individual account. If this is not the email address you want to use for your log-in, you can easily update this information after you log-in using this address. In addition, there is a location to add an additional email address to receive all communications sent to your account. There is also an option for a third email address, which is for your clinic email address that the public will see on your Find-A- Doctor profile. If you are currently sharing an email with another member, please contact us for assistance.
Once you’ve watched the video, please follow the link below to reset your password. You will be prompted to enter your email address. Please click on the Forgot Password link and follow the onscreen instructions in order to create your password.
If you need assistance or have questions, please contact us at (402) 934-4744, option 5 or via email at info@nebraskachiropractic.org.
Thank you for being an NCPA member and stay tuned for more website announcements!
]]>The most current version of the Medicare Fee Schedule is as follows:
98940 goes from $26.91 in 2021 to $26.68 in 2022
98941 goes from $38.80 in 2021 to $38.48 in 2022
98942 goes from $50.77 in 2021 to $50.35 in 2022
If you need access to the full fee schedule it can be found here:
The deductible for 2022 has increased $30 to $233. More information can be found here:
Happy New Year!
Brad Stauffer D.C.
Nebraska Medicare CAC Representative.
]]>I wanted to pass along two significant updates.
The first is why I have not yet distributed the 2022 Medicare Fee Schedule. The fee schedule was released last month, but there have been changes pending, and I was waiting until that played out. The original version had a 3.7% cut in reimbursement across the board, including our manipulation codes. Congress just passed legislation that should alter reimbursement and hopefully eliminate the majority of that cut. So I am currently waiting for that process to play out, and then I will provide the new fee schedule.
The second involves a new government initiative known as the “No Surprises Act.” Parts of this consumer protection act are scheduled to go into effect as soon as January 1st and would substantially affect the medical community.
CMS issued the guidance in 2 sections. The first released this summer dealt with the original issue of people being admitted to offices and facilities that were in-network but seeing non-participating providers while there.
The second guidance was issued a few weeks ago and has caught everyone off-guard as it goes much further. There is still a lot of confusion regarding this latest guidance, so we continue to assess this and attempt to get more information. We will pass that information along to you as we find out more. Since some of these changes’ scheduled date is January 1st, we are working as quickly as possible. Again information is spotty and non-specific, and the final rule has not yet been issued.
Here are a few of the most significant potential impacts mentioned currently.
- The requirement to post a patient rights statement.
- The requirement to issue an estimate of cost prior to seeing any of the following patients that must be within $400 of the final cost.
- Uninsured Patients
- Any patient that sees you as an out of network provider
- Any patient that has insurance but chooses not to use it or does not have benefits for a service.
- Out of Network providers would be required to get a waiver signed in order to bill their full fee. Failure to do so would require you to bill the patient only what the cost would be for an in-network provider.
- There are a number of provisions associated with this, including waiting periods we are currently waiting for clarity from CMS to confirm.
- The patient may go through a federal dispute resolution process if the above rules are not followed to determine what they actually owe you.
- We are still assessing the rules with regard to commercial insurance patients.
- The rules do not apply to those patients with Medicare, Medicaid or VA benefits.
Much of the information is yet to be clarified. There continue to be challenges, including a lawsuit filed in the last few days. As we have more information, we will pass it along to you as soon as possible, but I wanted to put this on your radar as we near the end of the year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Brad Stauffer D.C.
Nebraska Medicare CAC Rep.
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