PCC Client Lobby

New ICD-9 codes take effect on OCtober 1! Do you need to edit your practice's diagnosis list in Partner?

You can run the Table Editor (ted) in way that will sort the diagnosis table by code. At a command prompt, type, "ted -s ins -t5". Partner will open your Diagnosis Table listing, sorted by code, and you can review and edit your diagnoses. The Smart Report Suite (srs) also has a report that lists your diagnoses. It is found in the "Partner Table Lists" section.

Remember: always clone or create new diagnosis entries, don't delete or write over existing entries. Be sure and contact PCC Support at 800-722-1082 if you need any help editing your table.

PCC also has a few helpful resources to help you with the new ICD-9 updates. First, we have a 2010 ICD-9 Coding Cube, a fun and handy way to help you remember some of the new codes that pediatric offices will use regularly.

If you're looking for a more complete listing of important ICD-9 code updates of particular interest to pediatric offices, you can download the full handout provided to attendees of our recent Weblab, "Prepare Your Practice for 2010 ICD-9 Updates."

On August 24, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued final rules on the new interim HIPAA regulations about notification following a breech of unsecured protected health information. This new rule is required by the HITECH ACT, as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), enacted on February 17, 2009. The interim final rule goes into effect on September 23, 2009.

The rule requires that covered entities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and their business associates provide notification in the case of breaches of unsecured Protected Health Information (PHI). If a breach of unsecured PHI occurs, offices must notify each individual whose information may reasonably believed to have been accessed, acquired, used or disclosed. If the breach involves more than 500 individuals, offices must also notify the media and the Secretary of HHS who will post information about the breach on the HHS website. Business associates are required to notify the covered entity who will then follow the notification process. Content guidelines for what to include in the notification are outlined in the interim final rule.

The rule provides guidance for determining what a breach is, and if breached PHI is secured or unsecured. Secure PHI, whether paper or electronic, is "that which is rendered unreadable by method of encryption or destruction". The new notification rule only applies to breaches of unsecured PHI. The rule does not require offices to secure all PHI. According to the rule, "This guidance does nothing to modify a covered entity's responsibilities with respect to the Security Rule nor does it impose any new requirements upon covered entities to encrypt all protected health information."

Medical offices and their business associates must comply with this rule as of September 23, 2009. This means simply that if a breach of unsecured PHI occurs on or after September 23, 2009, the new notification rules must be followed. The commentary provided with the rule states that this deadline, while only 30 days away from its date of issue, is thought to be reasonable because most states already have similar notification requirements in place. While offices are expected to comply in September, no sanctions will be imposed until February 22, 2010.

PCC offers you both electronic eligibility and ERA/electronic EOB processing for participating payers as part of your PCC Care Plan.

If you're practice isn't already taking advantage of Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) through PCC, get started today to be ready for Partner auto-posting support, which is just around the bend!

PCC is continually building new connections to participating ERA and Eligibility payers to help save you time, accelerate your cash flow, and smooth your overall billing processes.

We also have a growing number of real-time eligibility payers where you can receive quick confirmation of patient insurance and benefit coverage, reducing the likelihood of bad debt. PCC recently built a new real-time connection to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield which added 13 new Partner supported real-time eligibility Blue Cross and Blue Shield payers.

There are many other new connections, so update your lists today!

There have been some small, but important improvements and updates to Partner since this spring's rollout of Partner 4.2009. Your feedback has helped us to correct workflow problems and improve the Partner experience.

Here is a quick list of improvements that have been made since the update:

• The Insurance Reimbursement Analysis tool, ira, now uses the new display and search features when viewing the report output.
• PCC followed your suggestions for improving the provider order features of the Calendar program (scrod).
• The Bills program will now ask the user if they wish to update the billing cycle for billed accounts.
• When you create charges in a third-party EHR that are not related to an appointment, the provider information will now appear with the charges in the checkout program.
• You can now set the number of receipts that checkin will produce when making a payment during checkin.
• The inscoar report will now remember YOUR default settings.
• If an insurance company supports real-time eligibility, that eligibility will be checked automatically every morning.
• Numerous other minor bug fixes in scrod, the eligibility screen, the 2009 RVU data, and many new payors that support eligibility!

Keep your feedback coming, and stay tuned for more great new Partner features rolling out this fall!

We are looking forward to seeing you at Walt Disney World® Resort next week for the 2009 PCC Users' Conference next week, July 21-24. This annual conference for PCC clients provides a wealth of learning, networking opportunities, and fun. To get the most out of your experience, we have a few tips that will help your office to run smoothly while you're away. We hope to see you at the conference!

· Elect a System Administrator

Does your office have a System Administrator? When you leave for Walt Disney World®, make sure that someone at home can, at a minimum, do a shutdown and change backup tapes. The person who handles these tasks on a day-to-day basis is called the System Administrator.  If you are usually the System Administrator, elect a temporary System Administrator and make sure your staff knows who you've elected.

· Post PCC's Support Phone Number

Put PCC's Support Phone number where your staff can access it quickly. Remind your staff which support plan you have and tell them how quickly they should expect a response. If one of your employees is particularly knowledgable about your computer, you should ask your staff to use this person as a resource for computer answers before calling PCC.

· Make sure your staff knows how to get in touch with you while you're away, in the case of an emergency. This could mean leaving your cell phone number in a convenient place, or providing your staff with information about how to reach you at the hotel. The number for the Disney Contemporary Resort is (407)-939-6244.

PCC is now launching the PCC EHR Version 1.1 Early Adopter Program. We have new information available about the features included in PCC EHR Version 1.1., our Early Adopter Program, and our Guided Go-Live Process. There are only six slots in this Early Adopter program opportunity and only PCC customers using Partner Practice Management System are eligible. Registration for the PCC EHR Early Adopter program will begin in July 2009.

Learn more about what's included in PCC EHR Version 1.1 and read about the qualities your practice should have to participate. Your practice can be ready to decide whether being an Early Adopter is right for you by the time we begin accepting registrations in July.

Are you in the loop on important weekly communications from PCC? View an example of the e-mail newsletter we send to PCC clients and find out how you you can be added to our email list.

Beta testing is currently underway for new features in Partner Version 4.2009, which means these exciting new features will soon be ready for your office! Here's a preview of some of the updates coming your way:

Insurance Eligibility Improvements: Partner can now perform an instant, real-time eligibilty check with many carriers. A new Eligibility work desk program will allow you to review policy information for scheduled patients and confirm eligibility for each one. A new eligibility screen in Checkin will allow your staff to quickly review eligibility status and even press a button to recheck eligibility with the insurance carrier.

Personal Billing Improvements: PCC has improved the bill logging system. You can now view a list of all accounts receiving a bill, along with an explanation of why accounts do not receive a bill. In addition, you can review a digital copy of any bill generated for any account.

Your Program Requests Answered: The other changes in this update include improvements to reports, updates to patient searching and scheduling, and many other wish-list requests you gave to our Software Support team. Keep your feedback coming!

For more information about this Partner update, read this PDF letter, or watch a video with the highlights. 

We have put together some new resources to help you navigate the Red Flags Rule, with guidelines and a template policy for you to use in creating your own Identity Theft Program, if you determine your practice is subject to comply.  Read our guidelines on what your Identity Theft Program should include or download the Template Policy.

PCC is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2009 PCC Users' Conference at Walt Disney World® Resort, Florida.  The conference will begin with a Welcome Reception from 6-9pm on July 21.  Three days of courses will follow from July 22-24

Visit the UC Event Page

Plan your Trip to the UC

Download the UC Schedule

Download the UC Course Description

Click Here to Register Now!