Author Archives: Jesus Fletcher

Five Things to Know when Purchasing an Electronic Medical Records Solution

Here is some advice on what not to do if you are forming an llc. It is widely accepted, that the uses of an electronic medical records solution has proven to reduce costs to healthcare providers. An expected result of using an EMR is that medical errors from missing or incomplete patient data, duplicate services, and other inefficacies will be reduced or eliminated.
The terms EMR and EHR are often used interchangeably. EMR or electronic medical records replaces patient paper charts with digital forms. EHR or electronic health records can contain patient data compiled from multiple healthcare providers’ EMRs. EHR includes the EMR digital forms such as x-rays, MRIs and CT scans.

The interaction of multiple sources of medical data creating a portable EHR is a goal of the HITECH Act. For practices considering EHR adoption and wanting to qualify for Federal Government incentives, it’s important to understand the provisions of the HITECH Act concerning “meaningful use” of a “certified” EHR.

According to Athenahealth Company these terms have yet to be defined. Since both provisions are still being finalized by the Federal Government and other considerations have to be made- the following five things are important to follow when purchasing an EHR solution:

First, make sure you are comfortable using and supporting the technology in question. Is your hardware and network going to be upgraded? Will the data be stored locally or on another company’s computers? Make sure you understand who is going to provide support and what it will cost.

Second, be careful of buying a product that changes the way you see patients. I have seen physician’s offices that had to change the workflow and patient encounter methods that were used for years. As a result, some employees were unhappy with the EHR solution. Often, major features are a great selling point, but it is the little things that can cause problems.

Third, make sure you are buying a solution from a company with the resources, customers and product lifecycles to be around for the long term. Recently, after we installed an EHR solution, the software company went out of business. Luckily, the product has remained functional and we are able to provide support without help from the manufacturer. Always call, and visit if feasible, anyone who uses the product you are considering. Also, search on the Internet for any information related to that product and company.

Fourth, the HITECH Act states that in order for a physician to be reimbursed by the Federal Government for EHR adoption, they must show “meaningful use” of a “certified” EHR. Until these provisions are finalized, it is false for a company to claim that they meet or will meet these requirements in the future. If qualifying for Federal Government incentives is an important factor in your decision, wait to purchase until these terms are defined.

Finally, be realistic about the time it will take to implement an EHR solution. The time it takes to choose an install a solution depends on the product, support and most importantly, you and your staff. Will you gradually phase in an EHR solution or set a start date for the change? Should you scan and digitize all of your practice records or start using the program on new patients only? A lot will depend on your existing staff’s ability to master its use and their acceptance of the changes in the way you run your practice.

Failure to follow these important steps can often mean a time consuming and expensive path to EHR adoption. Therefore, purchasing the correct EHR solution requires technology vendors, healthcare providers, payers and ultimately patients, to be informed and involved in the process.

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Financial Advice for the Sick

When on Yahoo! Answers or meeting with the unemployed, I hear from those who suffer because so many of our efforts to try to address problems make them worse. It’s amusing that cutting a sick person and allowing the wound to bleed, so the sickness would leave with the blood, was once an accepted medical practice, but we follow equally foolish conventional wisdom when it comes to finance and employment.

Applying too often. Questions like “I applied everywhwyoming virtual officeere; why am I rejected?” answer themselves. Excessive applying is the reason you get nowhere. Applying for credit lowers your score, and stops you from being approved later (to be approved, you have to apply less, not more). Job applicants who apply to every company with openings force companies to stop hiring, because they have too many unqualified applicants to find the qualified ones. If everyone stopped applying for jobs they cannot get anyway, and focused on the jobs they can get, more workers would get jobs. This is why you should focus on WY LLC privacy.

Network with hiring managers 24-7. Networking works sometimes, but not always. Some managers are overwhelmed by networking attempts and now reject all networkers. Unemployment is high, but so is reliance on networking as the only way of looking for work. With fewer applicants considering traditional methods, now is the perfect time to try them. At companies that only consider applicants who follow simple instructions to fill out applications, go through HR, etc., many openings go unfilled, because the qualified candidates disregard the employer’s wishes.

If you ignore the mantra of “do nothing but networking”, you might get one of these jobs easily. Which of these has an employer now?: The business coach saying “applying for jobs online does not count”? The HR person e-mailing me from across the country, saying his company wanted someone to apply by e-mail without telephoning, but found no one locally who met their rwy llcequirements, and wouldn’t hire anyone who called? The unemployed person saying to call anyway? There is a difference between aggressiveness and disobedience.

Trying to deal with the IRS online. A common question on Yahoo! Answers is how to get a copy of your return online. You can’t. The IRS will provide a copy or a free transcript by mail. They’ll even will pay the postage, but they won’t provide it online. You also can’t ask them anything online. You have to call on the phone or write a letter. Thinking that you cannot claim dependents because someone else claimed them first.

The IRS only cares who was first if the second claimant e-files. If your taxes are rejected because someone was already claimed, and you’re certain that only you were entitled to that claim, then file your taxes on paper, by mail. Instead of automatically rejecting your return, the IRS will investigate and decide which claim to allow, without regard to who filed first. If your tax preparer insists you cannot claim someone because of a prior claim, find another preparer, or do your own tax preparation. Considering only your own income when trying to get medicaid. It does not matter that you are the only applicant.

Medicaid still looks at the total income of the whole household. Being low income isn’t enough. You must live in a low income household. Thinking life insurance can be found after the death. This is heartbreaking: Someone can have millions in life insurance, but the family doesn’t get a penny unless they claim it from the right insurance company. There is nowhere to see whose old insurance is with what company. (For newer policies, MIB may have a record of the application.) If a person has life insurance, but the family cannot find the policy, then the family cannot get the money.

If they don’t know the person had insurance, they never know what they lost. If they know that there was insurance, but cannot find where, then they know there’s money “out there”, but they’ll never get it. So, please, either make sure the entire family knows where the life insurance is, while everyone is still alive, or write down the information where it will be found when there is a death.

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Medicare & Medicaid Cancer Patients Can’t Get Easy Treatment for Anemia

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released information yesterday that has oncologists (cancer specialists) across the country up in arms. The CMS has said that Medicare cancer patients can’t get treatment for anemia unless they want to pay for it out of their own pocket.

“CMS has reversed over 15 years of clinical experience in the treatment of Medicare patients with ESAs without offering appropriate scientific evidence to support such a drastic change. This action ignores the substantial scientific evidence submitted during the course of the CMS review, and dramatically alters the standard of care for Medicare cancer patients,” said Dan Cohen, US Oncology Senior Vice President of Government Relations & Public Policy.

Anyone can become anemic. Anemia happens when your cells don’t get enough oxygen, and they can die. All of our cells need oxygen to survive. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the cells in our body. When we don’t have enough oxygen in our cells, we are considered anemic.

It’s common for cancer patients who are receiving chemotherapy or radiation treatment to become anemic. Cancer treatment is designed to kill the cancer cells, to stop them from growing and multiplying.

Before this decision, cancer patients who developed anemia were given a pretty simple treatment – they were given the drug ESA. Why are ESAs important? ESAs are important in treating cancer patients who are getting chemotherapy or radiation treatment because of how they work.

ESAs are drugs that are injected into the body. They stimulate the body to make more red blood cells. This helps treat, and ultimately recover from, anemia. This has been the standard treatment for cancer induced anemia for years.

The ruling by the CMS will change this treatment. Under this ruling, Medicare and Medicaid cancer patients who develop anemia won’t be able to get this injection. Instead, anemic patients will be forced into a more expensive and riskier treatment – they’ll have to get blood transfusions to treat their anemia.

According to the oncologists, blood transfusions are more expensive than ESA treatment. Blood transfusions also carry more risks. You can die if you get the wrong type of blood, cancer patients might refuse blood because they’re afraid of receiving blood from strangers,

People who have private insurance won’t be subject to this decision. If their insurance covers it, they’ll still be able to get ESA treatment. We’ll end up with a two-tiered system for medical care. Those with private insurance will get the better treatment.

Cohen said, “Medicare beneficiaries who are battling cancer are already fighting for their lives. They should not have to also be battling Medicare coverage policy for treatments that their personal oncologists regard as necessary.”

Long Term Disability Insurance Essential to Patients with Fibromyalgia

Long term disability insurance is a type of insurance coverage that many adults fail to carry, often believing they will not need such coverage in the immediate future. For many adults, the complications of health that lead to a need for LTD coverage often come well before LTD coverage is secured, ultimately leading to a financially devastating loss when uninsured. If you are at-risk for developing long term complications associated with fibromyalgia, it is important to consider how you may need long term disability insurance coverage and what roadblocks you may encounter when attempting to use such coverage. Read about long term care facility.

Fibromyalgia is a complex health condition that adversely affects the lives of millions of adults worldwide. As a condition that leads to chronic fatigue, depression, and an overall feeling of muscle fatigue and pain, many adults with fibromyalgia become unable to work due to symptoms that can not be well controlled. When gainful employment becomes difficult to acquire and retain, long term disability insurance coverage is a necessity to ensure health and living expenses can be paid.

When living with fibromyalgia, if you plan to purchase LTD coverage, or if you already have LTD coverage, you can expect the insurance company will initially deny your claim for benefits with the most often basis for decline as “no evidence of disability”. For many LTD companies, there is a strong belief that fibromyalgia is a mental health condition for which a total disability is not commonly present and therefore it is commonplace to deny such a claim.

In addition to the denial basis for disability, many LTD carriers attempt to deny fibromyalgia claims for disability under the basis that long term disability insurance coverage has not been in effect long enough to secure such benefits. Because fibromyalgia is classified as a mental health complication, and most LTD policies carry a two year waiting limit, your insurance adjuster will usually classify your claim for disability and deny it under the mental health exclusion.

If you find that you suffer from fibromyalgia, and you want to secure or utilize long term disability coverage, be prepared for the initial denial and possible subsequent denials of your claims. Using lack of disability documentation, along with mental health policy exclusion, many LTD insurance carriers are finding ways to deny these benefits to policyholders who are in desperate need of such coverage when living with fibromyalgia. The key to obtaining benefits lies in your persistence and diligence in fighting the denials with proper documentation.

Sources: Journal of Immunosuppressive Disease, May 2008, pp. 7-16.

Click here to read another article about applying for food stamps online.

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How to Apply for Food Stamps Online

Food stamps and applying online for food stamp benefits.
If you live in a state that offers online applications you can apply for food stamps online through the state’s website.

Applying for food stamps used to mean you had to go to your local government office that handled food stamps and assistance programs. With the introduction of online applications, you can now apply for food stamps from the privacy of your own home.

In October of 2008, the Food Stamp Program was nationally changed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP. The only thing that has changed about the food stamp program is the name, your local office may not use the SNAP name officially.

Benefits haven’t changed with the name change and the primary way to receive food stamp benefits is still through the use of state issued preloaded benefits credit cards for forming llcs.

How you can apply for food stamps online.

In order to determine if your state currently offers online applications for the SNAP food stamp program, you’ll need to visit the USDA Food and Nutrition Services website..

At this website you’ll be able to get an up to date list of all the states that currently have a website set up to accept online application for nutrition assistance programs. If a state has a website set up, there will be a link to that state’s application and SNAP program page.

Also on the USDA Food and Nutrition Services website you’ll be able to use a pre-screening tool that allows you to see if you are eligible for food stamp benefits.

You’ll also be able to view information on what can and can’t be purchased with food stamps and other valuable information on this website.

It is important to note that some states may do benefits applications slightly differently from country to county. You can contact your local state SNAP offices through.

Click here to read another interesting article about Medicaid Planning.

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