Apply Now for Phase 4 and ARP Rural Distributions

The application is now open for both Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Rural payments.

• Apply via the Provider Relief Fund Application and Attestation Portal
• Review the Application Instructions Webpages

The application will close on October 26, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Applications must undergo a number of validation checks before financial information is submitted so providers are encouraged to begin their application as soon as possible to ensure they are able to meet the deadline.

In order to streamline the application process and minimize administrative burdens, providers will apply for both programs in a single application, and HRSA will use existing Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Medicare claims data in calculating portions of these payments.

Click here for a printable flyer

How RFID is Revolutionizing Medical Linen and Uniform Management

2020 Alliance sponsor feature article courtesy of HandCraft Services

Managing your medical textile inventory is no joke. There are a number of complicated challenges involved with medical linens and uniforms, including cross-contamination hazards, linen loss, staff training, compliance with government regulations and fluctuations in inventory needs.

With these challenges in mind, many healthcare laundries and medical facilities are using a new technology to help streamline medical textile processing and inventory management: RFID.

What is RFID?

RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, consists of two parts: an RFID tag or label and an RFID reader. RFID tags contain a microchip that can store and process information, along with an antenna that can send out signals using radio waves, and an item-specific serial number. The RFID reader will receive the signals from the RFID tag and transmit the read results to a computer program or other accessible interface.

In the healthcare textile setting, RFID tags are sewn into uniforms, linens and other textile items, allowing the healthcare laundry and medical facility to access valuable tracking and processing information about each unique item.

While healthcare professionals worry about RFID’s effects on electromagnetic equipment necessary for healthcare, like MRI machines, as well as its effect on patients, many healthcare laundries use RFID chips that are non-ferrous (meaning that they do not contain any iron or steel) and are non-magnetizing (meaning that they do not create a magnetic field or are affected by magnetic fields), rendering these chips completely safe for use in healthcare settings and for patients.

3 Reasons Medical Facilities are Using RFID

There are multiple benefits that come along with an RFID textile management system. Here’s why this technology is growing in popularity among medical facilities:

1. RFID improves operational efficiency.
Efficiency is of the utmost importance in the healthcare industry, and the bottom line is that you can’t afford to let your healthcare linen and uniform needs slow down your operations. However, you also can’t afford to slack off when it comes to managing your healthcare textiles, because they’re essential to the daily function of your medical facility.

RFID helps with this issue by making inventory management easier overall. There’s no more counting by hand every single item in your inventory, because RFID can keep track for you.

An RFID system prevents order errors because each order is electronically filled at the processing plant, so you’re not left in a panic because the wrong number or type of item was delivered. You won’t run out of stock, which eliminates the need to cancel procedures due to a lack of inventory. Your time can be spent focusing on other aspects of the healthcare practice, because RFID is counting and managing your inventory for you, eliminating mix-ups and making sure that you always have the items that you need.

2. RFID reduces losses.
One of the reasons that healthcare linen and uniform management is so crucial is that the healthcare industry loses millions of dollars every year because of misplaced or stolen textiles. Whether your patients are taking towels with them or your employees are throwing out linens because they think they’re too soiled to be laundered hygienically, RFID can prevent losses by helping you to pinpoint the source of losses faster, allowing you to create contingency plans to eliminate these costs and save money in the long run.

Additionally, RFID can keep track of how much linen you’re using on any given basis, giving you a long-term picture of your facility’s needs and fluctuations in use. You can create customized inventory tracking reports that allow you to adapt to your facility’s linen and uniform demands, so you can eliminate excess inventory that you’re paying for but don’t actually need or increase your inventory as your facility is growing so that you won’t run out.

3. RFID gives you more time to focus on your patients.
At the end of the day, the point of improving operational efficiency and reducing losses is to be able to spend more of your resources on your patients. With improved inventory management through RFID, keeping track of your healthcare linens and textiles is just one less thing that you have to focus on that doesn’t relate to patient care. Both you and your employees will be able to spend more time working with patients and improving their health, not worrying about how many towels are in your storage area.

Simply put, you get access to the data that you need to make informed decisions for your healthcare facility without putting in hours and hours of work that would’ve been better spent figuring out how to best care for your patients and grow your medical practice.

Introducing RFID

Click image for a larger view

If you’re considering switching to a medical linen or uniform program that utilizes RFID, it’s important to do your research. Not all RFID programs are the same. For example, some programs only track uniforms, or may not provide comprehensive or easily-accessible usage reports, or may use RFID chips that contain ferrous or magnetizing materials. Before selecting an RFID-based linen or uniform program, make sure you know what benefits of an RFID program are most important to your facility and choose a program that emphasizes those benefits.

Additionally, make sure that any healthcare laundry you’re considering has enough experience with RFID to make this technology beneficial to you. As with any new initiative, working out the kinks can take some time, and you don’t want your medical facility to be a test subject.

Whether RFID is the right choice for your facility or not, it’s an amazing time in the healthcare industry when technology is being used to transform tasks like medical inventory management, leading to a better and healthier future for our communities. Hopefully, the future holds more innovations like RFID that allow medical practices to focus on patient care instead of management tasks.

HandCraft Services offers the highest-quality medical linen and apparel products, along with highly efficient services.

Our products can minimize your costs, enhance your facility’s image and improve overall patient and staff satisfaction. With high-tech systems and technologies, HandCraft sets the pace for healthcare linen. From using copper-infused, anti-microbial fabric to using RFID chips to track inventory, we stay on the leading edge of our field, so you can stay on the leading edge of yours.

For more information, visit us online at handcraftservices.com or give us a call at 888.358.8671.

Provider Relief Funds Deadline Extended to September 13th

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the deadline for Medicaid/CHIP providers to submit their financial data to apply for federal Provider Relief Funds has been extended to Sept. 13, 2020.

Providers that have not yet submitted their applications are encouraged to apply. Providers who received payments from the Provider Relief Fund previously or had a change in ownership are now eligible to receive payments. More information is available in SPECIAL BULLETIN COVID-19 #126: New Deadline for Medicaid Providers Applying for Federal Relief Funds.

Apply for Medicaid/CHIP Provider Relief Fund payment by July 20

Originally published in the July 16, 2020 issue of MGMA’s Washington Connection
Reprinted with permission from MGMA

July 20 is the deadline for eligible Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers to apply for funding via the Enhanced Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) expects to distribute $15 billion to eligible providers that did not previously receive a payment from the $50 billion General Distribution. The portal will allow such providers to report their annual revenue data to HHS and apply to receive a payment equal to at least two percent of reported gross revenues from patient care. For additional information on eligibility and the application process, providers can refer to the program’s application instructions.

$15B More in Relief Available for Those Participating in Medicaid/CHIP

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced additional distributions from the Provider Relief Fund to eligible Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers who participate in state Medicaid and CHIP programs. HHS expects to distribute approximately $15 billion to these eligible clinicians who have not already received a payment from the Provider Relief Fund General Allocation.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 10, HHS is launching an enhanced Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal that will allow eligible Medicaid and CHIP providers to report their annual patient revenue, which will be used as a factor in determining their Provider Relief Fund payment. The payment to each provider will be at least 2 percent of reported gross revenue from patient care; the final amount will be determined after the data is submitted, including information about the number of Medicaid patients served.

The initial General Distribution provided payments to approximately 62 percent of all those participating in state Medicaid and CHIP programs. This Medicaid and CHIP Targeted distribution will make the Provider Relief Fund available to the remaining 38 percent. HHS has already provided relief funding to over one million providers, and today’s announcement is expected to reach several hundred thousand more, many of whom are safety net providers operating on thin margins.

This funding offers relief to those experiencing lost revenues or increased expenses due to COVID-19. Examples of providers, serving Medicaid/CHIP beneficiaries, possibly eligible for this funding include pediatricians, obstetrician-gynecologists, dentists, opioid treatment and behavioral health providers, assisted living facilities and other home and community-based services providers.

To be eligible for this funding, health care providers must not have received payments from the $50 billion Provider Relief Fund General Distribution and either have directly billed their state Medicaid/CHIP programs for health care-related services between January 1, 2018, to May 31, 2020. Close to one million health care providers may be eligible for this funding.

Read the announcement.

Learn more about eligibility and the application process here. 

HHS also announced the distribution of $10 billion in Provider Relief Funds to safety net hospitals. The safety net distribution will occur this week. For updated information and data on the Provider Relief Fund, visit hhs.gov/providerrelief

How RFID is Revolutionizing Medical Linen and Uniform Management

2019 Alliance sponsor feature article courtesy of HandCraft Services

Managing your medical textile inventory is no joke. There are a number of complicated challenges involved with medical linens and uniforms, including cross-contamination hazards, linen loss, staff training, compliance with government regulations and fluctuations in inventory needs.

With these challenges in mind, many healthcare laundries and medical facilities are using a new technology to help streamline medical textile processing and inventory management: RFID.

What is RFID?

RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, consists of two parts: an RFID tag or label and an RFID reader. RFID tags contain a microchip that can store and process information, along with an antenna that can send out signals using radio waves, and an item-specific serial number. The RFID reader will receive the signals from the RFID tag and transmit the read results to a computer program or other accessible interface.

In the healthcare textile setting, RFID tags are sewn into uniforms, linens and other textile items, allowing the healthcare laundry and medical facility to access valuable tracking and processing information about each unique item.

While healthcare professionals worry about RFID’s effects on electromagnetic equipment necessary for healthcare, like MRI machines, as well as its effect on patients, many healthcare laundries use RFID chips that are non-ferrous (meaning that they do not contain any iron or steel) and are non-magnetizing (meaning that they do not create a magnetic field or are affected by magnetic fields), rendering these chips completely safe for use in healthcare settings and for patients.

3 Reasons Medical Facilities are Using RFID

There are multiple benefits that come along with an RFID textile management system. Here’s why this technology is growing in popularity among medical facilities:

1. RFID improves operational efficiency.
Efficiency is of the utmost importance in the healthcare industry, and the bottom line is that you can’t afford to let your healthcare linen and uniform needs slow down your operations. However, you also can’t afford to slack off when it comes to managing your healthcare textiles, because they’re essential to the daily function of your medical facility.

RFID helps with this issue by making inventory management easier overall. There’s no more counting by hand every single item in your inventory, because RFID can keep track for you.

An RFID system prevents order errors because each order is electronically filled at the processing plant, so you’re not left in a panic because the wrong number or type of item was delivered. You won’t run out of stock, which eliminates the need to cancel procedures due to a lack of inventory. Your time can be spent focusing on other aspects of the healthcare practice, because RFID is counting and managing your inventory for you, eliminating mix-ups and making sure that you always have the items that you need.

2. RFID reduces losses.
One of the reasons that healthcare linen and uniform management is so crucial is that the healthcare industry loses millions of dollars every year because of misplaced or stolen textiles. Whether your patients are taking towels with them or your employees are throwing out linens because they think they’re too soiled to be laundered hygienically, RFID can prevent losses by helping you to pinpoint the source of losses faster, allowing you to create contingency plans to eliminate these costs and save money in the long run.

Additionally, RFID can keep track of how much linen you’re using on any given basis, giving you a long-term picture of your facility’s needs and fluctuations in use. You can create customized inventory tracking reports that allow you to adapt to your facility’s linen and uniform demands, so you can eliminate excess inventory that you’re paying for but don’t actually need or increase your inventory as your facility is growing so that you won’t run out.

3. RFID gives you more time to focus on your patients.At the end of the day, the point of improving operational efficiency and reducing losses is to be able to spend more of your resources on your patients. With improved inventory management through RFID, keeping track of your healthcare linens and textiles is just one less thing that you have to focus on that doesn’t relate to patient care. Both you and your employees will be able to spend more time working with patients and improving their health, not worrying about how many towels are in your storage area.

Simply put, you get access to the data that you need to make informed decisions for your healthcare facility without putting in hours and hours of work that would’ve been better spent figuring out how to best care for your patients and grow your medical practice.

Introducing RFID

Click image for a larger view

If you’re considering switching to a medical linen or uniform program that utilizes RFID, it’s important to do your research. Not all RFID programs are the same. For example, some programs only track uniforms, or may not provide comprehensive or easily-accessible usage reports, or may use RFID chips that contain ferrous or magnetizing materials. Before selecting an RFID-based linen or uniform program, make sure you know what benefits of an RFID program are most important to your facility and choose a program that emphasizes those benefits.

Additionally, make sure that any healthcare laundry you’re considering has enough experience with RFID to make this technology beneficial to you. As with any new initiative, working out the kinks can take some time, and you don’t want your medical facility to be a test subject.

Whether RFID is the right choice for your facility or not, it’s an amazing time in the healthcare industry when technology is being used to transform tasks like medical inventory management, leading to a better and healthier future for our communities. Hopefully, the future holds more innovations like RFID that allow medical practices to focus on patient care instead of management tasks.

About the Author:

HandCraft Services offers the highest-quality medical linen and apparel products, along with highly efficient services. Our products can minimize your costs, enhance your facility’s image and improve overall patient and staff satisfaction. With high-tech systems and technologies, HandCraft sets the pace for healthcare linen. From using copper-infused, anti-microbial fabric to using RFID chips to track inventory, we stay on the leading edge of our field, so you can stay on the leading edge of yours.

For more information, visit us online at handcraftservices.com or give us a call at 888.358.8671.

October 17 NCMGMA-NCMSF Webinar: Legislative Update

October NCMGMA-NCMSF Webinar
Legislative Update

October 17, 2017 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Program

Spend one hour with Chip Baggett, JD, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at the North Carolina Medical Society as he reviews the legislative developments in 2017 and the impact on the profession of medicine and the care of patients. Chip will discuss key legislation passed in this year’s sessions (STOP Act) and pending legislation in the General Assembly of North Carolina (SB629 and HB36) and at the federal level (CHIP and ACA Repeal and Replace), which would impact our state.

Speaker

Chip Baggett, JD
Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel
North Carolina Medical Society
Chip has worked for the North Carolina Medical Society since the spring of 2007, and was recently promoted to Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel. Attorney Baggett is now responsible for state level advocacy efforts as well as communications and advancement for the NCMS and the NCMS Foundation. Chip has a long history in organizational advancement and advocacy. He has led successful corporate and non-profit annual fund campaigns following training at the Indiana School of Fundraising. A graduate of the evening program at the NC Central University School of Law, Chip passed the NC Bar exam in 2016.

Registration

This webinar is complimentary but space is limited so make sure to register early! After you register, you will receive an emailed confirmation with webinar and phone-in instructions.

Continuing education credit may be granted through your professional organization (MGMA, PAHCOM, AHIMA, etc.). Please self-submit for these organizations.

Questions

For questions or more information please contact the NC Medical Society offices at ncmsfoundation@ncmedsoc.org.

Palmetto GBA E-mail Update: Tuesday, February 14, 2017

What is the Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI)?
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, requires that Social Security Numbers (SSNs) be removed from all Medicare cards by April 2019. A new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on the new Medicare cards for Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status.

Applies to:

• JM Home Health and Hospice//General
• JM Part A//General
• JM Part B//General
• Railroad Medicare (RRB)//General – Railroad Medicare

Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI)
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) requires CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. A new randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number on new Medicare cards for transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status.

Applies to:

• Railroad Medicare (RRB)//General – Railroad Medicare
• JM Home Health and Hospice//General
• JM Part A//General
• JM Part B//General

MACRA slide deck: Educate your practice on Medicare payment reform

Originally published in the February 1, 2017 issue of MGMA’s Washington Connection
Reprinted with permission from MGMA

To help medical group practice leaders educate physicians and staff about the new Medicare payment system under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), MGMA updated our member-exclusive presentation which outlines what practices need to know for 2017. Whether your practice plans to participate in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or an advanced alternative payment model (APM) in 2017, this slide deck explains how these new payment paths will impact your practice on a day-to-day basis.

Medicare finalizes sweeping changes to physician payments

Originally published in the October 14, 2016 issue of MGMA’s Washington Connection
Reprinted with permission from MGMA

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the highly-anticipated final rule implementing the Medicare physician payment reforms enacted as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). With the passage of MACRA, Congress set Medicare on a path away from automatic, annual updates hampered by the threat of payment cuts under the flawed sustainable growth rate formula toward a system that focuses more on clinical quality and cost effectiveness. In response to MGMA’s extensive advocacy efforts, the final rule includes greater flexibility for group practices in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and more alternative payment model (APM) opportunities.

Key provisions of the final rule:

• Establishes 2017 as the first performance measurement year for the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS);
• Reduces the quality reporting burden during first year of MIPS by allowing practices to submit one quality measure or one improvement activity to avoid a penalty or submit data for a reduced reporting period of 90 days to potentially earn a positive payment adjustment; and
• Details criteria for qualification as an APM participant, including eligibility for bonus payments.

MGMA Government Affairs staff are closely reviewing the final rule and will provide detailed resources to members in the coming weeks. A link to the final rule and additional information is posted on MGMA’s MACRA Resource Center. Members can also learn more by attending the “Under the MACRAscope” series at MGMA’s 2016 Annual Conference in San Francisco. Register today!