The BCAT’s Post

Spotlight on #Attention! OTs call it a client factor. SLPs call it a cognitive-communication skill. Regardless of your “discipline-speak,” attention is an important component of #cognitive function. It keeps us in the correct position in our lanes while driving, it allows us to alternate between looking at information on an insurance card and filling out a medical form, and it helps us filter out background noise to focus on our work. With several different subtypes – sustained, divided, selective, and alternating - attention is complex, and may seem overwhelming to assess. But if during observation or assessment of ADLs, you notice that your client has difficulties that seem to be related to attention, you can corroborate your findings with the BCAT® Test System. When using the online administration feature, your BCAT® Test will immediately generate a patient level report that provides an Attention Factor Score that specifies the level of impairment in attention. Visit https://lnkd.in/g3E5MYxk to find out how you can incorporate the BCAT® into your evaluation process. #cognition #clientfactors #OT #Occupationaltherapy

We're all familiar with medical pre-screen forms, but how about financial pre-screen forms? Those are important too! Introducing the new CLTC Financial Pre-Screen worksheet. If you are looking for a comprehensive, impartial client financial pre-screen form to go along with your medical pre-screen form, this would be it! You can use it on its own, or in conjunction with your health screening form. It was designed to help you collect the information needed to effectively field underwrite a client and make the right planning recommendation. Access and download it here: https://zurl.co/QQ7O Not a CLTC? Join one of our Master Classes and start having more effective LTC planning conversations, supported by a community of LTCi specialists and an extensive collection of sales and support tools, just like this one! #CTC #FinancialHealth #ClientIntake #ClientScreening #FinancialServices #InsurancePlanning #LongTermCarePlanning #LTCPlanning

The Importance of Accreditation Maintenance Your organization just went through the arduous process of preparing for a CARF accreditation survey and your hard work paid off. You earned a 3-year accreditation. Congratulations! After a much-deserved celebration, you may think that it is time to relax. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Your business is running like a well-oiled machine because your trained staff and prepared them with the best procedures for completing tasks and internal tracking while maintaining compliance. While it may be easy to push these compliance duties off to a rainy day, that rainy day may end up arriving months or years later. In the meantime, your company may be missing the tracking of valuable data that could uncover potential concerns creeping into your business. For example, if you fail to survey your clients, you could miss feedback identifying a barrier to entry, which could then lead to decreased intakes and lost revenue. Or, you could miss out on adding services based on stakeholder feedback and lose your competitive edge. If the pause of working on accreditation procedures is too long, you could reach a critical point whereby you can no longer go back in time to recreate items like stakeholder surveys. For example, if it is 2024 and you failed to send out a stakeholder survey in 2023, you can no longer collect that valuable information, resulting in a lack of accreditation compliance. When it comes time for your next CARF survey, the surveyors will look to see if the standards were continually met since the last review. If they were not, it could mean a demoted, or loss of, accreditation. Further, every year CARF revises its current standards and develops new ones to ensure relevancy to industry benchmarks and best practices. Companies frequently need to revise their current policies and procedures to meet the standards’ revisions and additions.  “Accreditation maintenance” means dedicating the time needed every month to ensure that your company continues to achieve a high level of excellence in all aspects of your company, from business functions and program management to financial stability. This, in turn, translates into providing quality services that truly help clients, which is what it is all about. If you would like to know more about CARF accreditation preparation and maintenance, please contact me or visit https://lnkd.in/eEke9pzV. My efforts have resulted in a 100% success rate for achieving CARF accreditation.

From our availability to our flexibility, we strive to be "the IRO next door," ready to support you and problem-solve together. We emphasize - throughout all the work that we do - continuous quality improvement, innovation, and client satisfaction. #IRO #IROservices #peerreview #peerreviewservices #clientsatisfaction

💡First look at the new Accountable Care Prospective Trend (ACPT) is out!!💡 Questions for MSSP ACOs: - How does your national/regional (two way blend) compare to the adjusted USPCC trend used in the ACPT? Is it higher or lower? If higher, your benchmark would be reduced by ACPT. - Do we think COVID exclusion for part of 2023 and included the rest of 2023 and 2024 is out of sync with USPCC trends (2023 to 2024)? - Will the three way blend put you in a loss position in 2024? If yes, does the two way blend put you in savings position? There is a guard rail here where you don’t get the loss but you also don’t get the savings under the two way blend… How do we feel about this new trend? #MSSP #valuebasedcare #CMS #Medicare

I have a question for my private practice PT owners out there. Do you have a comprehensive Policy and Procedure manual? If you were audited by Medicare, or the state, would your policy and procedure manual pass muster? My next question is if you have one, where did you obtain it? Did you make it on your own, or did you start with a template from somewhere? If you don't have one, what would you think something like this would be worth? We are talking about a complete Policy and procedure manual, with all of the forms necessary for state and federal compliance, and the ability to add up to 5 custom policies that you want in your facility that may not be in a general manual. Is there a need for such a product? #physicaltherapy #privatepracticePT #policyandproceduremanual #PTcompliance

📊 Over $200 Million in Savings: The Impact of Rarity Diagnosis Codes Discover the power of RarityReview! Our data analysis derived from a client’s actual medical bill activity revealed a total bill review allowance exceeding $200 million. Configure bills with Absolute Rarity codes for a 0.5% auto-deny rate or explore the potential $16 million savings with a mix of Absolute and Strong Rarity codes. Let's revolutionize your billing process! #MedicalBilling #CostReduction #DataAnalysis https://lnkd.in/eTv84bpw

“The Benefits of an Impairment Rating Expert Drafting Your Letter to The Physician to Address an Incorrect WC Impairment Rating” In the world of workers compensation, an error of just a few percentage points on your final physician’s impairment report, can lead to claims leakage in the thousands of dollars. Along with any rating review and report, iRatings can provide the claims examiner or attorney with a letter that can be sent directly to the rating physician. This letter can be used to proactively address the issue of impairment prior to MMI, or can be used to address specific concerns with a rating that has already been assigned. Also, taking advantage of complimentary online training for claims staff, helps keep technical staff updated on the latest trends occurring in the world of impairment ratings. You may E-mail [email protected] to coordinate. The iRatings team is always available for a phone consultation to answer questions, to complete that rush impairment review when needed, to coordinate online CEU training, and to be a continued value added partner to your organization. www.iRatings.us #workerscompensation #AMAGuides #WCAdjusters #WCAttorneys

We see this every day. We use our Transparency tool Spectis to help members navigate care. It is incredible how many people think it must just be one hospital that overcharges. Recently, we found two hospitals owned by the same health system, 6.5 miles apart, with the same surgeon able to do the surgery at each of the facilities, and the cost was OVER $130,000 difference for the same DRG. I could give ten more examples off the top of my head, just like this one. The sad part is that the data is available, but it takes a willingness to approach things differently. We save clients significant money daily, but it requires a willingness to do something different. Unfortunately, so many healthcare consumers want the easy button and need help understanding all of this. We need more brokers and employers willing to step outside their comfort zone and not take the easy out; only then will we see significant change. Certainly not all, but we share examples every day, just like this one, with brokers, but they won't entertain it because they want to have a network in place to avoid confusion and complaints, which makes their lives easier. That is taking the easy route. It's coming around, but slowly. Oh, by the way. The cheaper facility had higher quality ratings as well. If anyone wants real examples, please let me know, and we will demo for you. It is eye-opening.

REWARD FACTOR A 4-STAR FACTOR AGAIN - A year ago, I wrote a post about how in 2024 the Reward Factor could be a difference in getting from 3.5 to 4 Stars. But then CMS reversed that in July. Now it's happened again! What's this mean? This year's cutpoint jumps are just the first blow. MA Plans in the ~3.7 area are bumping up to 4 Stars, but this is going a temporary gift. It's going to take added work to sustain 4 Stars. (BHA can help strategize and stay on course!) Here's an updated table. Check out the BHA-Duos blog from 2022 for a great graphic that shows the interaction. (link in comments) I had a longer post on this last year; will share it in the comments as well. Minimum value (any condition) for 65th Percentile: 2025: 3.703125 2024 - recalculated: 3.802817 (back over 3.75) 2024 - initial: 3.700515 **** (under 3.75) 2023: 3.821053 2022: 4.083333 2021: 3.794872 2020: 3.859155 2019: 3.859155 2018: 3.775815 2017: 3.741 **** 2016: 3.788 2015: 3.716 **** 2014: 3.686 **** 2013: 3.503 **** "Integration Factor" 2012: 3.50 **** 2011: Not published #medicareadvantage #medicarestarratings