President's Message

Fine Print Summer 2010

President’s Message INSIDE THIS ISSUE: As I begin the coming master. These forums year as president, I can’t offer a great opportunity New Members 2 help but reflect on my to ask questions, ex-

Healthcare Humor 2 many years in health change ideas and iden- care. Each new experi- tify best practices that Annual Awards ence has been an oppor- will be of great benefit to Banquet 3 tunity to grow and learn your organization. both personally and pro- HFMA is an outstanding Annual Fall Institute 4 fessionally. I am now organization and I look embarking on a new ad- forward to the coming Christine Blidy, President New Member venture that I am greatly year with enthusiasm. I Highlight 5 looking forward to. I am hope that every member surrounded by an out- mitted to providing will take full advantage Social Events ANI 6 standing and engaged timely and pertinent edu- of the many educational board as well as active cational sessions at a rea- offerings, committee committee leaders who sonable cost to ensure meetings and networking Mini-LTC 7 are true experts in their our membership receives opportunities we offer. respective fields. the most up to date and We face many tough Committee News 8-9 I would encourage each comprehensive informa- challenges over the com- and every one of you to tion available. I would ing year, but I am confi- become actively in- also like to encourage dent that we can success- HFMA Region volved in our chapter. you to take advantage of fully manage them to- 2 News 10 The landscape of health the many specialized gether.

care is changing rapidly committees which deal Sponsors 11 and the next few years with issues relating to will be particularly chal- reimbursement, patient lenging for all of us. As access, patient financial a chapter, we are com- services and the charge

“Info Bites”

HFMA’s Founders Award Program is designed to encourage, monitor and recognize individual involvement in HFMA. The program features four different and sequential awards-the Follmer Bronze Award-the Reeves Silver Award-the Munce Gold Awards- the Founders Medal of Honor. Check your points on the www.hfmawny.org. Chapter Leadership PAGE 2 Officers and Board 2010-20101 We welcome the following new members to the HFMA WNY Chapter: President-Christine Blidy President Elect-Jennifer Dunn Lori Bard Secretary-Kristen Chapman Budget Manager, Catholic Health System Treasurer-Rachel Davis [email protected] Board of Directors Class of 2011 Randolph Bianchi Kristin Anderson Sue Brown SVP Business Development, Summer Street Capital Partners Todd Fragale [email protected] Loralee Voelker Class of 2012 Jeffrey Jacobs Timothy Blach Bruce Liebel Controller, Niagara Falls Memorial Med. Center Mary Mahaney [email protected] Suzanne Roccisano

Committee ChairsCo- Lynn Roberts Chairs: Director of Financial Services, Catholic Health System Social Events: Mary Ann Miccichi [email protected] Bruce Liebel Steven Chizuk Newsletter: Accounting Manager, Erie County Medical Center Loralee Voelker [email protected] Davis Chpter Management: Kristin Anderson Timothy J. Finan President & CEO, Upper Allegheny Health System Founders Susan Dybas [email protected]

Membership: Leah Militello Kristen Chapman Mary Mahaney Tax Specialist, Columbus McKinnon [email protected] Patient Access: David Anderson TRANSFERRED IN: Danette Szafranski Tracy Gates Patient Financial Services: VP, Finance & CFO, Jones Memorial Hospital Susan Brown [email protected] John Galley Kathy Tomasulo

Educational Programs: HEALTHCARE HUMOR Jennifer Dunn Jill Schaefer EMBARRASSING MEDICAL EXAMS: Reimbursement: At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly Russ Previte and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. 'Big breaths,'. Paul Sweet . . I instructed. 'Yes, they used to be,'. . .replied the patient. Sponsorship: Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle , WA Peggy McDonough Larry Nowak One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that

Certification: her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more Bruce Liebel than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a 'massive internal fart.' Chargemaster Robin Walters Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg Kelva Borden FINE PRINT SUMMER 2010 P A G E 3

Annual Awards Banquet

On May 7th, the Annual Awards Banquets was held at the Wanakah Country Club. After drinks and dinner, the installation of the officers took place: President Christine Blidy, President – Elect Jennifer Dunn, Secretary Kristen Chapman, Treasurer Rachel Davis The Board of Directors - Class of 2011 are Kristin Anderson, Susan Brown, Todd Fragale, Loralee Voelker The Board of Directors - Class of 2012 are Jeffrey Jacobs, Bruce Liebel, Mary Mahaney, Suzanne Roccisano The following awards were also given:

Reeves Silver Award—Jennifer Dunn and Clayton Osborne Follmer Bronze Award—Christine Blidy, Judy Conti, Jill Schaefer, Loralee Voelker Member of the Year was awarded to Robin Walters, Chargemaster Co– Chair The WNY Chapter received the following awards:  C. Henry Hottum Awards for Educational Performance Improvement  John M. Stagl Silver Awards of Excellence for Education

 Helen M. Yerger Special Recognition Awards:  Website Improvement  Collaboration - Region 2 Mini LTC

 Education Performance - NE NY, Rochester Regional, Central NY, Metro NY, and Western NY Improvement - Region 2 Institute

Mary Mahaney greeting guests with a smile and a bottle of wine. Jill, Andy , John and Sandy enjoy a laugh.

Jill Schaefer installing President Christine Blidy

New officers and Board of Directors New officers Christine, for the Class of 2011 and 2012 Jenn, Kristen and Rachel FINE PRINT SUMMER PAGE 4

HFMA REGION 2 ANNUAL FALL INSTITUTE: Save The Date - October 13 – 15, 2010

DON‟T MISS THE PREMIER HFMA REGION 2 EVENT, THE ANNUAL FALL INSTITUTE. Coming To The Adam‟s Mark Hotel-Buffalo!

Partake in the Preconference Reception – „Buffalo Style‟. (Includes Chicken Wings, Beef On Weck, and a “Meet & Greet” with Steve Tasker).

Step Up” with Debora Kuchka-Craig, National HFMA Chairman

Enjoy a Health Care Reform Panel Discussion, moderated by Richard L. Clarke, HFMA President & CEO.

Select from 9 Great Breakout Sessions

Features two outstanding keynote speakers that you will not want to miss!

MICHAEL LEAVITT – U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2005-2009), and Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency (2003-2005). Mr Leavitt is a powerful voice for global health diplomacy, and will share his insights into how the public and private sectors should join together to solve the health care crisis.

STEVE TASKER – Former Buffalo Bills football player and currently NFL Color Ana- lyst and Sideline Reporter for the CBS Television Network.

Steve is widely considered to be the National Football League’s greatest special teams player of all-time. He is the only true special teams player to be selected as the NFL Pro Bowl’s Most Valuable Player. Together with his family, Steve makes numerous appearances on behalf of charities.

REFER TO CONFERENCE BROCHURE FOR MORE INFORMATION! www.hfma.org/site/emeetreg/main/MtgInfo.cfm?mtgcode=10REG2 PAGE 5

New Member Highlight

Picture of Barry Swartz, CEO and Jon Campbell, CFO, Practice Management Center

Jonathan Campbell, CFO Practice Management Center

One of our members, Jonathan Campbell, was recently featured in Business First as part of their annual review of the top companies in the area. Currently there are 155 employees, including 12 at the newly opened Rochester office. Practice Management Center, owned by Barry Swartz, was established in 2002 to offer services for medical billing and practice management. Jon has been a member of HFMA since 2008. Barry, who is Jonathan’s stepfather, has been in healthcare in the Buffalo area for many years, as well as a former member of HFMA. In addition, Practice Management Center has been a Silver sponsor of HFMA since 2007. Jonathan is responsible for directing the financial and human resource divisions of the company, client rela- tionship management and increasing market share at Practice Management Center. When asked about the future of healthcare, Jon stated ―The execution of effective financial management combined with an efficient, compliant and accurate claims processing approach, will be even more critical to physicians and hospitals alike, as we continue to move forward with healthcare reform.‖ His previous experience includes patient data entry, charge entry and claim submission. Jon grew up in North Tonawanda and went to school at SUNY Geneseo, where he played hockey. He is an avid hockey fan. Just ask him! Favorite musical group: Classic Rock Favorite restaurant: Chef’s Little known fact about Jon: Played junior hockey with and against many current NHL players

Jon plans to attend the HFMA golf tournament on August 5. If you haven’t met him yet, say hello. [email protected]

Submitted by Suzanne Roccisano

PAGE 6

UPDATE ON SOCIAL EVENTS Mary Ann Miccichi & Bruce K. Liebel, FHFMA, Social Events Co-Chairs

The social events committee is working to better meet the needs of our membership by looking at different options for networking events.

A survey was sent out to solicit ideas for events, as well as determining the best locations and times. Details to follow at a later date; however, a popular item seemed to be a Miss Buffalo Cruise, which is planned for Friday, August 20th. Check the flyer for more details on this T.G.I.F. Happy Hour Cruise.

In the next Fine Print, we will be reporting on the annual Golf Tournament, which will be held August 5th at a new course this year, the Glen Oak Golf Course in East Amherst, NY. Always a popular activity for our membership, the format was changed to a “scramble” format, as recommended in last year’s survey of golf attendees. Contact Chris Eckert at 716-332-2656 for a last-minute sign up.

Stay tuned for future networking events that we hope to bring to an area near you!

Good times at ANI in Las Vegas! 2010 MINI-LTC: Tarrytown, N.Y. By Bruce K. Liebel, FHFMA The lobby of the Doubletree Tarrytown

This year’s Region 2 Mini-LTC (Leadership Training Conference), which is open to all Chapter Leaders, was held June 6th & 7th at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown, N.Y. Attending from WNY were Christine Blidy, Chapter President, Mary Mahaney, Membership Co-Chair, Jeffrey Jacobs, newly elected Board Member, and myself.

Mini-LTC started Sunday evening with a networking reception, and continued Monday morning with an education program that included the following presentations:

• “Value of the HFMA Experience”, by Greg Adams, HFMA Chairman-Elect, 2010-2011. • “The Exceptional Communicator”, by Leslie Rose McDonald, Pathfinders President. Her presentation included interactive exercises on such topics as Negative Listening Patterns, Power of Non-Verbals, Planning for Healthy Dialogue, and Volunteer Leadership Challenges. • “The Chapter Balance Scorecard”, by Bob Masi, Region 2 Executive and Marianne Muise. • Breakout sessions in such areas as education, certification, newsletter and membership.

I myself, always find the Mini-LTC’s to be not only a great networking event with other Region 2 Chapter col- leagues, but educational as well. I always pick up useful tips for the chapter and with my numerous years of experience, I am also able to share insights into the workings of the WNY chapter with other chapter leaders.

The other WNY Attendees had this to say about their Mini-LTC experience:

CHRISTINE BLIDY: (Chapter President) I return as much as possible because I find I always learn something! The information provided by Path- finder’s communication tools was very helpful as it was not just HFMA specific; it could be used by all leaders. It is always very enlightening to meet with members of other chapters to discuss the "wins" and the obstacles each chapter faces.

MARY MAHANEY: (Board of Directors, Membership Co-Chair) During the breakout session on social & membership issues, I was able to get ideas for events that could be useful for our membership. These should help keep our new members engaged as active participants in our organization. In order to continue to keep our succession plans on track, we need our members to be excited about HFMA and to know what it brings to their professional careers, as well as the personal rewards received from networking.

JEFFREY JACOBS: (Board of Directors) I liked the social interaction and getting to meet new people. It was also great to reconnect with some of the members I met from Region II last year. I found the educational session to be very informative, and I also learned more about the inner workings of HFMA.

P A G E 8 Reimbursement Committee

Members of the Reimbursement Committee involved in the Medicare Wage Index and Occupational Mix review project for the Federal Fiscal Year 2011 recently received a final report. This is for the Buffalo/ Niagara Falls Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) involving acute care facilities in Erie and Niagara counties. The average hourly wages for the CBSA increased by 2.04% compared to the national average hourly wage increase of 4.6% resulting in a decline of the Wage Index Factor from 0.9809 to .09628 for FFY 2010 and FFY 2011, respectively.

Though there was a decline the CBSA would have experienced a even further decline to a Wage Index Factor to 0.9480 if the adjustments proposed by the consultants were not implemented. The base year used in determining the wage index was 2007. This wage index reporting review has occurred every year for the past several years. All the acute care facilities participate in the program.

The Wage Index factor is used extensively in many formulas of reimbursement. A minor change of .01 to the index can result in millions of dollars of reimbursement to the facilities in Erie and Niagara counties. Co-chairpersons: Russell Previte and Paul Sweet

PATIENT FINANCIAL SERVICES

THE PATIENT FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING WAS HELD ON JULY 9TH AT WNYHA. IT FEATURED A FIRST EVER TELECONFERENCE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH MEDASSIST-A FIRSTSOURCE COMPANY, WNY CHAPTER MEMBER - TAMARA M. DICKEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DE- VELOPMENT.

1. UNIVERA ISSUES - PATRICIA TONELLI AND DONNA GAWEL ATTENDED THE MEETING TO DISCUSS THE LATEST SURTAX (HCRA) NOTIFICATION AND SELF-PAY RECALCULATION CONCERNS. THEY ARE TAKING THE COMPLEXITIES THE FACILITIES ARE FACING IN HANDLING THE CHANGES BACK TO THEIR MANAGEMENT. THEY ARE EXPECTED TO REPORT ANY CHANGES AND TIMELINES BACK TO THE GROUP.

2. WNY-HEALTHENET AND WNY-HEALTHELINK - TOM UNGER ATTENDED AND PROVIDED THE COM- MITTEE WITH THE LATEST UPDATES AND ANSWERED ANY QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS. TOM ALSO PROVIDED AN UPDATE ON THE ―BEACON COMMUNITIES‖ AWARD

3. AN OPEN DISCUSSION WAS HELD AND SEVERAL QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE WERE ADDRESSED.

BY JOHN GALLEY

FINE PRINT SUMMER 2010 P A G E 9

EDUCATION COMMITTEE:

Upcoming Sessions:

Provider Consulting Solutions (PCS) will be providing an online webinar this fall for the HFMA WNY chapter. As part of its ongoing APR education initiative, PCS has developed a methodology for ranking APR DRG opportunity by service area. Using statewide Medicaid FFS data grouped under APR DRGs, PCS has developed best practices which, when applied to the individual hospital, highlight areas of opportunity for every hospital. Participants will receive a hospital-specific profile identi- fying and quantifying potential opportunity based on these best practices.

An Ethics session is currently being planned. This will be a great opportunity for CPA’s to obtain their required CPE credits for license maintenance. The topic will also be a great opportunity for all in Healthcare Finance to brush up on Ethics.

HFMA National:

HFMA National offers many excellent education sessions. Did you know that many online webinars are FREE to HFMA members? Upcoming sessions include:

August 19, 2010 Submitting Appropriate Medicare Cost Report Data for Medical Devices and Supplies

August 26, 2010 Transparency in Healthcare: Patient Friendly Billing

August 31, 2010 Medicare’s Final Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule for 2011

Visit www.hfma.org/webinars for registration information.

The Education Committee is always looking to present relevant topics of interest. We are also looking for new venues to hold education sessions. Please contact Jennifer Dunn at [email protected] or Jill Schaefer at [email protected] with suggestions.

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HFMA Region 2 News By Robert A. Masi, CHFP, Regional Executive, HFMA Region 2

Region 2 is one of 11 HFMA Regions, comprising chapters large (Metropolitan New York) to small (Puerto Rico). The Region, made up of six New York chapters and Puerto Rico representing nearly 3,000 HFMA members is among the most highly regarded Regions of HFMA.

As Regional Executive it is my responsibility to work with Chapter Presidents on continued deliv- ery of improved services to members, including education programs, as well as represent the inter- ests of the Chapters at National HFMA through the Regional Executive Council.

Annually, the Region through collaboration of the seven chapters presents a Region 2 Fall Institute. Over the years, the Institute has grown in size and complexity, providing nationally recognized keynote speakers along with timely hands on education sessions for healthcare financial profession- als. Additionally, the Institute offers access to state of the art healthcare product and services in its extraordinary Vendor Fair.

It is my pleasure to tell you that the 2010 Region 2 Fall Institute to be held at the Adams Mark Ho- tel in Buffalo, October 13 - 15th, continues in the tradition of providing excellence in education. The Institute titled ―Step UP to Healthcare Reform Opportunities‖ includes topics on finance, regu- latory updates, receivable management, cost containment, technology, patient centered care and others relevant to the current healthcare industry as well as a vendor fair with more than thirty ex- hibitors.

The Region 2 Fall Institute will highlight two nationally recognized speakers:

Michael Leavitt, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Administrator, Environ- mental Protection Agency.

A powerful voice for global health diplomacy, Michael Leavitt shares his insights into how the public and private sectors should join together to solve the health care crisis. Called ― a prophet in pinstripes‖ for his early call to reform America’s health care system, Michael Leavitt is a respected, experienced and proactive voice on the issues that matter. Known for his respectful opposition of plans to increase government health care bureaucracy, Leavitt presents new solutions aimed at solv- ing the national health care crisis that advocate fiscal responsibility and better standards for quality care.

Steve Tasker, a former Buffalo Bills football player; current color analyst and sideline reporter for CBS Television Network.

Widely considered to be the NFL’s greatest special teams player of all-time, as the NFL Pro Bowl’s MVP in 1993 and as the AFC’s special teams player in the Pro Bowl 7 times, Steve will talk about leading by serving as well as including team members in the decision making process. His talk will include personal experiences and his own story as illustrations.

I strongly encourage you to attend this event and take advantage of this extraordinary educational opportunity. Additional details and registration information can be obtained using the following link: http://www.hfma.org/HFMA-Region-2-Annual-Fall-Institute/ PAGE 10