Please join us for a special fundraiser six years in making. MAS is proud to support Transitional Services for New York, Inc. (TSINY) in their efforts to send “Lenny” a Special Olympic hopeful to Greece. TSINY is a not for profit multi-faceted mental health corporation that seeks to enrich the lives of the mentally ill.

Lenny Wilkens, our athlete came to TSINY unable to complete basic, daily functions.  She was so wild that her own family rejected her.  The TSINY staff worked  persistently with Lenny at Hope House, their residence in Queens Village, and offered her the opportunity to exercise, where they noted our athlete’s propensity to excel at Power Lifting and began helping her.

Lenny began participating in the Special Olympics six years ago and has now been chosen to represent the United States in Greece. She will compete in power lifting, a strength sport that includes bench press, squat and the dead lift. Our athlete has enjoyed competing and making friends. We know her life has been enhanced by her participation.

It costs nearly $9,000 to send Lenny to Greece and she must be accompanied by a TSINY staff member. To this end, we are trying to raise $20,000 and greatly appreciate your support. Donations are also being accepted.

Come out and support our efforts to send this great athlete to the Special Olympics. Join us at the TSINY fundraiser luncheon on Thursday, May 12 at the Douglaston Club, Douglaston, NY.

Guest speakers include Dean Mercado of Online Marketing Muscle, who will be presenting  a seminar on mastering social networking and Wendi Caplan-Carroll, Regional Director of Constant Contact who will be presenting on using Constant Contact to promote your business or organization.

We look forward to your support and seeing you there. Click here to register for this fundraiser event now or contact Terry LoPiano directly to purchase tickets or make a donation via phone (718) 746-6647 ext 11 or email at tlopiano@tsiny.org

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The post talks about how several New Jersey hospitals are touting low wait times in an effort to attract patients to their Emergency Departments, according to a Wall Street Journal report (how entrepreneurial !!)

It reads Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center recently unveiled two billboards in Jersey City that advertise the hospital’s emergency room wait times.  The billboards are updated with current wait times several times a day.  While Christ Hospital in Jersey City plans to display its wait times on its website.

I am proud of these healthcare institutions for acting on the need in the market to better serve patients (i.e. customers) by streamlining their ED operations,  then creating a product to market  in an advertising campaign.  I am sure a smart phone application is on the way!

Well to the contrary,  I had to go and read Branwen Jeffreys’ blog in the BBC health news Kings Fund: Waiting times in England at three-year high.  The King’s Fund is an English charity that seeks to understand how the health system in England can be improved.  The Kings Fund statistics for February show 15% of patients waited over 18 weeks for treatment, the longest time since April 2008.  It argues the shift is due to the financial pressures on the NHS.

So now, I am wondering if Obamacare could stifle the competitive spirit.  And could long wait times  become a trend in the U.S one day?

Kings Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said the health service was now operating in a different climate.

“In the past the two things that kept waiting down were targets and extra money. Managers got sacked for not meeting targets. And of course in the future there won’t be the same amount of extra money.”

The official waiting figures are only part of the picture. As the BBC recently found, some parts of the NHS in England have introduced new restrictions on treatment or put routine operations on hold for several months. None of this appears in the statistics as it occurs before the clock starts.

For me this is the frustration of healthcare reform, there is still not enough firm information out there to get our arms around to understand what direction we need to focus on.  What I do believe is that solid business ideals are going to make it shine!

I just hope there won’t be too many rules around it to prevent  it from doing what is intended to do.  Cut costs and deliver excellence in healthcare.  What’s your take?

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Bill recommends that hospitals focus on doing what they do best, and let others—experts—take care of the rest!  Click here now to watch the video on the front page of the MAS website!

A special thanks to the HBA for all of their support!!

About MAS: Is there a certain area in your medical billing process which is slowing you down or eating into profits?  You no longer have to let an unmet billing need undermine your strength and efficiency.  With its team of talented medical billing experts, Medical Account Solutions (MAS) can help your healthcare organization identify and focus on your unique problem and fill the void to keep your billing processes running smoothly.

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The provisions now effective are:

• Expansion of the dependent age up to 26 years. Until now, dependents were no longer covered by their parents’ or guardians’ insurance after 19 years of age, or if in college, after 23 years.

• No annual or lifetime dollar limits to amount of money spent on health services.

• No denying coverage to children under 19 years of age for preexisting conditions.

• Coverage for all preventative services with no co-pays.

This is according to Kelly McGivern, president and chief executive officer of the Ohio Association of Health Plans, who also said the new rules are expected to increase costs of insurance premiums 5 percent

Are you confused? “I have been in healthcare for 25 years and I am just not sure what it all means.”  But I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and working through it.

See our popular blog: (first posted August 8, 2010) below as a reminder of what we might be on for.

When it comes to wading the waters of the “New Health Care System“, to quote Chief  Brody from the movies JAWS “You’re gonna need a bigger boat!”

Check out Congressman Brady’s New Health Care Chart below. If there was ever a time to hire a Medical Billing company like Medical Account Solutions, it’s right about now!

I’m sure you’ll agree that when you’re face to face with a big shark,  it’s no time to go ” Rogue”. Don’t try to do it alone. MAS stands ready to help you navigate your way to firm footing in these uncertain waters.

Let MAS handle the details so your health care organization can stay afloat, because if you don’t move quickly,  this “shark” will swallow you whole.

Congressman Brady Introduces “Your New Health Care System” Chart

July, 28, 2010 — nicedeb

“

A little sunshine goes a long way”.

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Bill Baylis, President of  Medical Account Solutions

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Well MAS is here to tell you that medical billing is so much more than just submitting codes to insurance companies and following up to receive payment checks. In fact, we’re more than just medical billers, we are profit recovery specialists. We work proactively as an extension of your team to manage your revenue and cash flow so that you can focus on what’s important–patient care.

MAS understands that while it’s important to get the codes right, it’s also very important to remember the human conditions behind the codes. With our team of talented medical billing experts, Medical Account Solutions (MAS) can help your health care organization identify and focus on your unique problem filling in  the void to keep your billing processes running smoothly.

We look at monthly trends to see if there are any areas that we can help you improve and streamline your processes to maintain good cash flow. Our problem solving approach means we work harder to make sure that your patient’s important procedures are reimbursed because we know that denied claims hurts them and you.

Why do we care so much?  It’s not just about the codes and the numbers. Simply medical billing is fun to us.(when was the last time you heard that). We enjoy fighting on your behalf with the insurance company”s to get claims paid. Going the extra mile to get rejections over turn and doing our part to take the pressure off a growing medical group.When MAS processes your medical billing, we know we’re boosting your productivity so you can see more patients. We know that when we get it right, it’s a win for you and a win for your patients.

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60 minutes ran a story Sunday night Aug. 6, 2010 (originally published on Nov. 22, 2009). The Cost of Dying: End-of-Life Care .  It started with the statement “Every medical study ever conducted has concluded that 100 percent of all Americans will eventually die.  This comes as no great surprise, but the amount of money being spent at the very end of people’s lives probably will.” They also reported, that last year, Medicare paid $55 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives. That’s more than the budget for the Department of Homeland Security, or the Department of Education.

This piece created a lot of emotions for me.  I don’t think it was an accident that I related to this story, considering that I have been working with colleagues who are experts in the field of eldercare and life coaching.

When I first decided to add this story to my blog;  it seemed like an easy angle to write about our role in the debate as medical billers.  (If you have any thoughts on what role we play, please comment.) After reporter Steve Kroft asked Dr. Elliott Fisher, a researcher at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy “How do so many people end up in the hospital?” and Fisher replied “It’s the path of least resistance”.  I realized I was about to take the same path with this blog–so here goes the harder way.

Perhaps we as a country need to take a step back and as hard as this is to say “decide how we want to die”.

Most Americans don’t like to focus on morbid thing like this, but I have to agree with the point of view held by Dr. Byock who leads a team that treats and counsels patients with advanced illnesses: “This is a hard time in human life. But it’s just a part of life. Collectively, as a culture, we really have to acknowledge that we’re mortal,” Dr. Byock said. “Get over it. And start looking at what a healthy, morally robust way for people to die looks like.”

Dale Carnegie once said “Prepare for the worst that can possibly happen” then “calmly try to improve upon the worst.”

I think that we should put some thought today into how we what to die, to maintain some control of our last days. I have  deeper understanding of how working with my end-of-life colleagues could help us live a better life. Attorney Craig Andreoli an estate planning expert, Stephanie Ethe long term insurance specialist and Jean Summit-Riker life coach can help us plan and ask ourselves the hard questions now so that we’re better prepared for death.

Jean Summit-Riker said “Life is a journey we all travel, but the choice to take the path to peace and happiness is yours alone.”  I think this is our chance to collectively leave a legacy to our children and grandchildren and show them that it is important to prepare for death and that is possible to do it gracefully.

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Check out Congressman Brady’s New Health Care Chart below. If there was ever a time to hire a Medical Billing company like Medical Account Solutions, it’s right about now!

I’m sure you’ll agree that when you’re face to face with a big shark,  it’s no time to go ” Rogue”. Don’t try to do it alone. MAS stands ready to help you navigate your way to firm footing in these uncertain waters.

Let MAS handle the details so your health care organization can stay afloat, because if you don’t move quickly,  this “shark” will swallow you whole.

Congressman Brady Introduces “Your New Health Care System” Chart

July, 28, 2010 — nicedeb

“

A little sunshine goes a long way”.

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The post highlights a study by a team from Massachusetts General Hospital and its physician’s organization. They examined the time and costs associated with the third-party billing system used in the U.S and calculated that they could save billions by just  streamlining  typical administrative inefficiencies.

The analysis, published in Health Affairs and funded by the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked at a large, multi-specialty group of doctors that uses the typical fee-for-service model. They looked at what might reduce some of the administrative burden – specifically, the time spent by physicians and office staff doing paperwork and going back and forth with payers.

“Achieving these savings would not require restructuring the basic market-system tenets of our complex health care system through, for example, mandating a single-payer approach,” the researchers write.

Medical billing companies like MAS have been on the front line of streamlining costs since the 1970’s and is a major reason why our industry has taken off since. Over the years. many doctor groups and hospital have taken advantage of our expertise to increase cash flow, including niche billing skills delivered by MAS,  such as Workers’ Compensation and No-Fault or Ambulance / Emergency Transport Billing.

Another trend that MAS has seen is for clients to use our billing company on a project basis, as with our Third-Party Follow-Up and Trial Balance Cash Improvement programs.  Our team literally becomes an extension of the client’s back office, benefiting them by keeping their office focused on the day to day’s most pressing needs.

What also works well is a contingency billing scale in which healthcare organizations take advantage of a sliding pay schedule that adjusts with need and patient volume. This becomes a win-win when hospital and physician organizations protect bottom line costs while still having a trained staff  available when they need them the most.

There is no doubt the battle in streamlining costs in healthcare is a challenging one. When I read a report like this one I get energized and it reminds me that success can be ours!  By working together and relying on the various industry segments to do their part,  MAS believes that our healthcare industry can save billions. The model is there for us to follow. We look forward to doing our part to streamlining costs– one doctor office, one clinic, one doctor group and one hospital at a time.

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