WKU News

Jeff Rose, associate director at WKU Health Services attended the Kentucky Medical Group Management Association (KMGMA) 2012 Annual Spring Conference May 24 - 25 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Pre-conference workshop

Local Chapters: Keeping them legal.  This session was lead by Steve Dickens, JD. This workshop provided a thorough overview of what MGMA expects from their state and local chapters.  Jeff learned about some of the specific responsibilities he has as the secretary of the Barren River KMGMA chapter.  For example, some of the annual business filings with the Kentucky Secretary of State as well as the annual tax filing with the IRS.  An action item that Jeff noted, is his need to review the bylaws and policies for the Barren River KMGMA chapter.

Educational Sessions Attended:

The Future of Healthcare by Deborah Walker Keegan

• This presentation was heavy on the doom and gloom and light on practical advice.  There was a heavy emphasis on the shifts in reimbursement away from fee-for-service.  Several demonstration projects were highlighted and touted as the future of how providers will be reimbursed for services.  There was also a heavy emphasis on how primary care will become more integrated with other service settings across the continuum of care.  This presentation made Jeff more aware of some of the national trends, however he does not foresee any of the trends having a significant impact on Health Services in the next three years.

Planning for the Future: Adapting for Maximum Performance, by Marc Halley

• This presentation also looked at many of the national trends, however it provided more practical advice on how primary care settings are proactively responding to health care changes.  The biggest takeaways for Jeff included the concept of primary and secondary roles within a medical practice.  The primary roles are the provider, the clinical support staff and the receptionist.  Everyone else is a secondary role and should be doing everything possible to support the “productivity zones” within the practice because that is where the money is made and those roles are the primary shapers of the customer experience.  It was intresting to note, that the presenter recommended clinical support staff stay with the same provider rather than rotating providers and that their job duties be streamlined to make the provider as efficient as possible.

Understanding & Implementing ICD-10, Administrative Simplification and HIPAA Privacy, Robert Tennant.

• This presenter works for the National MGMA office.  Jeff is activley following the developments in this areas, so there was not any new information discussed.  One interesting suggestion was to wait to send staff to ICD-10 training until about six months prior to the implementation date because the beginning keeps getting moved forward in the calendar.

State laws and regulations that will impact your practice: Kentucky Legislative Update by Cory Meadows

• This was a concise overview of Kentucky’s recent legislative sessions and specific legislation that was proposed as well as enacted.  The biggest portion of the discussion focused on HB1 and how this would impact medical practices.  The general consensus is that there are too many unknowns at this point but that the KY Board of Medical Licensure is in the process of developing the regulations that will provide the specifics for how practices will comply with the new laws.  KY MGMA will have a webinar in early July that will provide an update based on the KBML regs.  Cory is an attorney that works for the KMA.  It was interesting to hear about the legislative session from his perspective.

The Value of Physician Involvement in Social Media by Jamie Verkamp

• This was an informative presentation that built a compelling case for medical practices use of social media.  Jamie was a dynamic speaker and did a nice job of offering concrete examples as well as links to further information on topics that were presented.  There was a good balance of cautionary tales as well as stories of how some practices have been able to leverage social media tools to engage current and potential patients.