Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020

7:30-8:30 a.m. 
BREAKFAST 'N LEARN 
Evaluating Your Strategic Alternatives in a Consolidating Radiology Landscape *
Andrew Colbert
Sponsored by

Radiology groups across the nation are increasingly faced with the decision of whether or not to affiliate, merge or join with larger groups.  Pressures driving these decisions include; growing cost and complexity of information technology requirements, the rising cost of recruitment, increased complexity of reimbursement, hospital and managed care consolidations, 24/7 subspecialty requirements, and challenges in measuring and tracking clinical quality and outcomes. Before determining if a partnership is right for the practice, leaders must first determine their strategic plan and clarify their short-and long-term objectives.
At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

• Differentiate the pros and cons of strategic growth alternatives
• Identify factors that drive valuation multiples
• Develop strategies to prepare for transaction discussions

9-10:15 a.m.
GENERAL SESSION
A.R.M.E.D. – Attract, Recruit/Retain, Mentor/Manage, Evolve, and Develop Current and the Next Generation of Leaders
Mary C. Kelly, Ph.D., CSP, Commander, U.S. Navy (ret.)

Getting people to work together is challenging. Office tension, competition, gossip, personal agendas, and pettiness reduce morale and productivity. By 2020, millennials will be 50 percent of the American workforce. That number jumps to 75 percent by 2025. Is your organization attracting and keeping the talent you need to lead into the future? Do you have a succession plan for your senior people? Are you ready for the shifting workforce? U.S. unemployment levels are at record lows. Ten thousand baby boomers are retiring every day. Thousands of human resource directors are struggling to fill the six million vacant job opportunities in the U.S. as competitors’ race for employees. Once they are hired, how do you keep them? How can you ensure that your employees, both new hires, and your current team, are ready for upcoming roles and responsibilities? In this highly interactive session, the speaker discusses how to Attract talent by being attractive to current and prospective team members; how to Recruit the right people; how to Mentor and manage emerging employees; how to Evolve, structurally and culturally to stay relevant; and how to develop the next tier of talent for future success.

11 a.m.-Noon
CONCURRENT SESSIONS

• The 10 Hottest Compliance Topics You Should Be Looking At
  Eric Christensen, MCSE, CCNA, CHCP

  Regulatory compliance in health care is a complex, ever-changing industry. Regulatory change means constant vigilance is necessary to prevent serious vulnerabilities that will lead to costly penalties and fines. During this presentation, the speaker will discuss the top ten compliance topics that you need to consider in your organization, to assure adherence to requirements and government standards from security risk, trends, social media procedures, lack of auditing, effective education and training, not reporting breaches, and resolving compliance deficiencies. These are only a few of what you’ll hear during the session.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Create a plan to protect your organization against cybersecurity threats.
  • Implement an effective social media policy and procedure.
  • Update mobile device policies to meet current trends and requirements.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• Dig in and Let’s “Talk” Ultrasound!
  Debby Mann, RCC, CPC, ROCC

  Ultrasound – It’s not just a section in the book it’s a modality with a lot of specific guidelines and exceptions! Gain insight into specific coding guidelines and documentation that will surely strengthen your coding scope or assist with physician dictation requirements. Participants will review key ultrasound risk areas found in radiology along with actual dictations. Let’s talk about it! This session is interactive and encourages collaboration through sharing. How are you incorporating clinical vs. non-clinical staff? What relationships and processes work best? What works for you, might work for someone else!
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Recall the CPT required elements.
  • Apply specific coding guidelines and strengthen your coding scope or assist with physician dictation requirements
  • Share your knowledge on how to clearly identify missing elements.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• MIPSology: Comprehensive Strategic Planning to Maximize Financial Incentive
  Gregory D. Wertz, MS

  Beginning in 2017 the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) has evolved over the first few years of the program bringing along with it much complexity and change. As the world of radiology must keep up with the ever-changing year-over-year rules of the Quality Payment Program (QPP), it becomes important to understand the entire structure of this program to ensure not only compliance with reporting requirements, but also the methodology CMS uses to define the calculations that yield a final composite score and subsequent future payment adjustment each performance year (PY). In this session, the presenter shares a brief history of the QPP while focusing on the final rules for the performance year 2020. Through the evolution of traditional quality measure benchmarking as well as the rising importance of the Cost category, pivoting your annual strategic plan to optimize scoring may bring a new set of challenges that will be discussed. Practical application to assist radiology groups to forecast the financial costs and potential return on investment yielded through the achievement of “exceptional performance” up to maximum CMS incentive payment adjustment will also be discussed.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Apply the high-level methods CMS uses to calculate the various categories of MIPS
  • Use various considerations to assist in gaining proficiency in the MIPS program to build a custom strategic plan for each performance year and forecast where the QPP is headed in the future
  • Predict the financial costs and potential return on investment by maximizing upward payment adjustment gained through exceptional performance
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• Early Experience With IR Site to Home Telehealth Visits
  Suken H. Shah, MD, MHCDS, MD, MHCDS

  In this session, participants learn how to apply the "use case" for the site to home IR telehealth visits and build a workflow. During the session, specific details for both the technical challenges and successes using a mobile platform will be shared. Attendees will also learn the proper way to bill, code and document (E/M) for these visits and how to cover the current reimbursement landscape for the site to home IR visits.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Apply "use cases" methodologies for the site to home IR visits.
  • Use the mobile platform for the site to home.
  • Prepare for to bill, code and document (E/M) site to home visits.
  
  Experience Level: New Professionals



• A Practical Approach to CDS Success
  Kirk Reinitz, CPA, and Kayley Jacquet

  In this session, participants will focus on the steps necessary to successfully implement the Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC)/Clinical Decision Support (CDS) program into your radiology practice and/or imaging center. During the session, attendees will cover pre-implementation research, implementation tactics and ongoing analytics to monitor for success, how to prevent workflow disruption for both ordering providers and radiologists and receive feedback practical solutions. The presenter will share predictable challenges with CDS implementation and how those challenges are being resolved.This session also explores the importance and power of analytics within the scope of CDS.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Develop steps for a successful CDS implementation.
  • Create a plan for the implementation of the CDS program.
  • Track CDS performance, manage outcomes, and coping mechanisms for handling outliers.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals

12:15-1:15 p.m.
LUNCH 'N LEARN
Empowering the People Behind the Image:  Connecting Patient Care, Staff Experience, and Radiology Service Management
Mark E. Olszewski, PhD

Sponsored by  

As healthcare transforms, imaging continues to be a central driver. However, as healthcare transforms, so must imaging.  The challenges for imaging today span multiple stakeholders, and increasing imaging partners will be judged by the results achieved. To understand how a systems view of imaging, where technology and data empower the people behind the image, this session will help imaging centers improve on all four dimensions of the quadruple aim:  improving health outcomes, improving the patient and staff experience, and lowering the cost of care.

1:30-2:30 p.m.
CONCURRENT SESSIONS

• 7 Prescriptions for Leadership Success for Radiology Professionals
  Mary C. Kelly, Ph.D., CSP, Commander, U.S. Navy (ret.)

  Thousands of leadership programs tell you how to be a great leader. Far fewer delve deeper into the surprisingly common mistakes supervisors, managers, and even CEOs unknowingly make that derail their team’s effectiveness and productivity. Using real scenarios and examples collected through years of leadership and management expertise, the presenter shares data from over 100,000 employee surveys to pinpoint the seven most common reasons some managers fail while others are so successful. Whether in your first year of management or your 30th, this session shows participants' hidden pitfalls and how to avoid them. Each participant will have access to a personalized leadership assessment website to identify your leadership strengths and weakness.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Gain insight into behaviors that may be sabotaging the loyalty of your direct reports.
  • Identify why your top talent may not be performing at their full potential.
  • Apply results from the leadership assessment to help you align team goals with the organizational mission.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• Time to Bring Revenue Integrity Back to the Claims Process
  Timothy Mills

  Studies suggest that most providers see overall denial and rejection rates as high as 15-20 percent. Because radiology practices have limited and often overworked resources, a good percentage of denied and rejected claims never get resubmitted, which results in lost revenue. In the session, the presenter shares the startling statics around the true cost of this traditional claims submission-rejection-abandonment approach and demonstrates how to evaluate where many claim errors originate within the workflow of the revenue cycle and how to determine the most common cause for claims denials/rejections. During the session, attendees will learn the importance of preemptive workflow assessments in evaluating and implementing preventative maintenance much earlier in the workflow – at the encounter level, when coding a patient visit, and during charge capture or charge entry.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Assess the rising costs of denied claims and industry trends in response to typical claim error origination within the overall revenue cycle workflow.
  • Identify common causes of denials and claim rejections and what methods can help to avoid or eliminate those issues before they happen.
  • Apply a preemptive workflow assessment, a proactive approach to process improvement, along with technology to effectively prevent these types of errors from occurring.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• Cybersecurity Update: Current Trends and Best Practices to Address the Threat
  David Miller

  Data loss from cyber-related incidents has become one of the most significant risks confronting health care organizations. The number of patient records breached in the first half of 2019 was more than double the records breached throughout 2018. Data on roughly 60 percent of the U.S. population has been disclosed through breaches from hackers, insiders stealing data, or employees losing a device containing PHI. When a health care record can be up to 46 times more valuable than a payment card record, it’s easy to see why health care organizations are targets. This session will highlight a few of today’s top cyber vulnerabilities and threats and discuss some best practices and tools to strengthen your organization's security posture.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Recognize vulnerabilities and threats from internal and external bad actors
  • Understand preventative measures to better protect your information and your network.
  • Gain insight into the types of questions to ask your IT team to learn more about what your team does day-to-day to protect your data and your network.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• The Untapped Power of the Waiting Room
  Jim Koehler

  Whether you're an imaging center, radiology group or interventional practice, there is a massive marketing opportunity within your waiting room. Patients are largely unaware of the many advances in diagnostic imaging, interventional radiology and screening services that are revolutionizing health care. The vast majority of radiology providers do not use their waiting area space to educate patients and cross-promote services. Yet, patients are amenable to receiving education materials in waiting areas, and they can be reached and influenced less expensively here than with any other marketing tactic. Leveraging the power of the waiting room will result in better-educated patients, better compliance with screening frequency, improved utilization of additional services and a stronger bottom line.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Organize your radiology waiting area for patient education and service cross-promotion.
  • Know what materials or audio/visual presentations should be made available.
  • Track the results of your waiting room education campaign to determine ROI.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• Known Unknowns: Compliance Mistakes Too Many Groups Make
  W. Kenneth Davis, Jr., J.D.

  Known unknowns are the things we know about, or should know about, but don’t fully understand. Too often, radiology groups are making the same compliance mistakes because of known unknowns. Dealing with these mistakes is distracting for the group’s leadership, can create a stigma with your hospitals, and will cost time and money. Moreover, with the 60-day repayment rule, it’s no longer an option to just “sweep it under the rug.” In the session, the presenter will discuss how to avoid compliance mistakes, what type of disclosure is needed and what you give up as a result.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Recognize and understand the most common “unknowns” that too many radiology groups are missing.
  • Determine whether the participant’s group has made a compliance mistake, and if so, how to fix it going forward.
  • Evaluate whether there’s a 60-day repayment obligation and/or what type of self-disclosure to make if the service took place before the mistake was fixed.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals

3:15-4:15 p.m.
CONCURRENT SESSIONS

• Are We Playing the Right Game?
  Keith Chew, MHA, CMPE, FRBMA, MHA, CMPE, FRBMA

  Increased staff and physician burnout; legislative pressure to address “surprise billing,” intense pressure to drive greater efficiency and generate more wealth. These are some of the biggest issues in radiology today, and they share a common root. Over the past 30-plus years, there has been a shift in health care strategy away from the just cause of medicine as a calling toward medicine to a business resulting in many unforeseen consequences.Paul Starr’s 1982 book “The Social Transformation of American Medicine” provides some of the basic insight necessary to begin to fathom the strategic shift that has been and continues to occur within the American health care system. This shift is impacting radiology through increased pressure to produce (read studies/produce widgets/drive revenue) and is part of the reason private equity/venture capital investment in radiology practices has skyrocketed. In this session, learn how you can correct and re-balance the strategic direction of radiology, and in the course of doing so, improve the satisfaction of physicians, personnel, patients, and partners.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Delineate the strategic shift from an infinite to a finite strategy
  • Develop an understanding of the quantifiable differences in a finite or an infinite strategy
  • Comprehend the changes necessary if radiology is to repositioned as a valued member of the patient care continuum
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• Building a Successful Interventional Coding Team
  Jennifer Studdard, RCC, CCS-P, CPC, CPCO, ICD-10-CM AHIMA Approved Trainer

  It can be difficult to recruit a single IR coder.Developing a solid team that can adapt to the changes ahead of us is even more daunting because as soon as they are trained, they "transfer" across town.This session provides tips to identify the unique skill set required to build a successful IR coding team and the steps necessary to keep them engaged and thriving.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Identify the differences in skill set for IR vs. diagnostic services.
  • Define those resources - internal/external - required for success.
  • Design a strategy to retain skilled IR coders.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• If You Build It They Will Come: How to Draw Millenials to Your Practice
  Chuck Falci, CPA

  Recruiting new talent is a big challenge In today’s radiology market. Most of today's practices were established by Baby Boomers and are being run today by Generation X, but they will need to draw Millennials if they want to add new players and build bench strength. It’s critical that radiologists understand the essential requirements that millennials are seeking in their first job. Can you build a practice that appeals to Millenials and still has enough structure for the "old guard" of Baby Boomers and Gen-X'ers? In this session, your presenters share their experiences in building an all-star team and how they draft radiology talent, fresh from the minor leagues of fellowships.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Assess and evaluate the needs of your practice and the facilities it serves in order to define what you are looking for in your next hire.
  • Determine what millennials want beyond a paycheck and how your practice can evolve to create a successful multi-generational team.
  • Locate the best talent for your practice and improve your chances of getting them on your roster.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals



• AUC/CDS: Tales From the Trenches
  Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS, CRA, RCC, CPC, CPC-H

  2020 is the official testing year for AUC/CDS implementation. Many organizations have made significant strides to prepare and implement this new mandate while others are struggling to make significant progress. Getting referring physicians to comply in 2020 is especially challenging since it is a testing year. Compliance is mandatory in 2021 and every organization must be prepared. In this session, the presenter will hear from participants who have begun this process and willing to share their implementation experiences for the group's benefit.
  At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

  • Identify specific tips you can employ to get your referring physicians on board with the new requirements.
  • Determine specific areas of focus that must be addressed through the remainder of 2020.
  • Apply what you heard and either start or make modifications to your implementation plan.
  
  Experience Level: Experienced Professionals


Defending Private Practice: How to “RFP Proof” Your Practice
Deborah MacFarlane, MBA

With the advent of national staffing companies and predatory radiology groups - radiology practices who have served their local hospital for years are vulnerable to challenges from outside entries vying for their professional services agreement. This session discusses what leads to radiology groups becoming in danger of losing their hospital contract and what steps they can take to “RFP Proof” their practice.
At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

• Describe the market forces at work that make radiology practices vulnerable.
• Discuss strategies to protect your practice from outside predators and solidify your relationship with your hospital(s).
• Respond to RFPs and successfully counter threats to your PSA.

Experience Level: Experienced Professionals

4:30-5:30 p.m.
Industry Buzz
Inside/Outside the Beltway: Updates on Legislation and Regulation Affecting the Radiology Industry
Linda Wilgus, CPA, CME

Are you aware of the ever-changing regulations impacting the radiology community and closer to home, your practice? Join Linda Wilgus, Chair of the RBMA Federal Affairs Committee, as she reviews regulations affecting the radiology industry. During the session, she will share current and proposed regulations with various individuals and how these issues impact the practices they manage. Learn what issues need your assistance and how to get involved. The presenter will facilitate questions from the audience and look for solutions in a collaborative fashion.
At the conclusion of the session, the attendee will be able to:

• Inform and educate staff in your practice on the relevant legislative and regulatory issues affecting radiology and its impact.
• Identify what needs to be done within their private practices to comply with new legislation/regulation.
• Apply your knowledge by getting involved to affect change.