MDAssociates, Inc.

Healthcare cyberattacks are costing an average of $11 million per breach

Read more at tinyurl.com/Breach2024

🌟Employee Spotlight🌟

Name: Megan Jackson
Located: Aurora, NC
Advice: "There is no such thing as a life without problems, so choose good problems to have."
Hobbies: "I'm an avid reader and my husband and I love to travel in our class A motorhome. We've taken multiple cross-country road trips, and it's my favorite way to travel!"

This quarter, our Shout-Standing Employee is one of our off-site Certified Professional Coders, Megan Jackson. Megan has been with MDA for 2.5 years and says she has enjoyed the variety of specialties of our clients. Prior to working as a CPC, she worked as an ultrasound tech for 11 years. She has since obtained her Certified Interventional Radiology Cardiovascular Coder (CIRCC)® certification, which is an extremely impressive accomplishment. She is described by her supervisor as dependable, accurate, and always interested in a new coding challenge. Thank you, Megan, for all that you do!

We have admittedly been a little quiet on social media lately. 2024 has been a busy year for us... in a good way! We don't know about you, but we can't believe it's May 24th already.

Here's a brief run-down on what we've been up to lately:
-Quarterly Staff Meeting (Cyber Security was our continuing education topic)
-Awarded staff for their years of service
-Named a new Shout-Standing Employee (stay tuned!)
-Attended the Palmetto GBA Jurisdiction J Part B 2024 Spring Tour
-Exhibited at the VA/DC HFMA/VA AAHAM Joint Conference: Looking Ahead to the Future of Revenue Cycle and Finance
-Quarterly client visits
-Provider education

More than 200 rural hospitals in the US have closed up shop on labor and delivery services over the past 10 years, according to a recent report. Today, more than half of rural hospitals no longer offer birthing services.

JAMA Medical News reports on solutions for the rural maternity care crisis.

https://ja.ma/3PhAgP8

☀️Happy Spring (vernal) Equinox!☀️

At 11:06 pm, the sun will sit directly over the Earth’s equator as it heads northward, marking the moment when night and day are the same length. You might be thinking, “So what?”

Well, for many, the Spring Equinox marks the end of a long season of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). While the specific cause of SAD remains unknown, it is thought to be caused by a few factors including:
-Circadian Rhythm, or “internal clock” – The decrease in sunlight can interfere with your body’s “internal clock” and lead to feelings of depression.
-Serotonin levels – Serotonin is a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that helps regulate mood. A decrease in sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin which can cause symptoms of depression.
-Melatonin levels – Melatonin is a hormone produced by the brain which plays a role in sleep. Season changes can interfere with the balance of the body’s melatonin which can affect sleep patterns as well as mood.

So, what are you waiting for? Do yourself a favor! Get outside and enjoy the sunlight!

Your practice's staff has the office operating efficiently. Your appointment slots are consistently filled. Patient satisfaction is at an all-time high. Business is booming! So WHY are your revenues DOWN?

MDAssociates, Inc. provides Practice Consulting services. Call us! We'll start with a CONFIDENTIAL consultation followed by a THOROUGH financial analysis and develop a STRATEGIC plan for your SPECIFIC needs.

International Women's Day - March 8
National Working Moms Day - March 12

MDAssociates, Inc. is proud to have 70% of our staff comprised of women, many of which are working mothers.

Raise your hand if Daylight Savings has you reaching for an extra cup of coffee 👋

Yep, there's an ICD-10 code for that!

AHA Urges Congress to Provide Support to Help Minimize Further Fallout from Change Healthcare Attack

In a March 4, 2024 letter to Congress, the American Hospital Association explained, “Change Healthcare is the predominant source of more than 100 critical functions that keep the health care system operating. Among them, Change Healthcare manages the clinical criteria used to authorize a substantial portion of patient care and coverage, process billions of claims, supports clinical information exchange, and processes drug prescriptions. Significant portions of Change Healthcare’s functionality have been crippled. As a result, patients have struggled to get timely access to care and billions of dollars have stopped flowing to providers, thereby threatening the financial viability of the hospitals, health systems, physician offices and other providers.”

To read more of AHA’s letter, visit tinyurl.com/AHAChangeHC

We couldn't help ourselves. We had to share this before February comes to a close! There really is a code for everything!

Broken hearted this Valentine's Day? Turns out it's not just a figure of speech, but an actual medical condition! Broken Heart Syndrome is also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo Syndrome. Read more in the following article!

http://tinyurl.com/hearttrouble

Cardiology charts can be quite a challenge to code and bill. This specialty requires an in-depth understanding of cardiac anatomy, physiology, and terminology as well as the diagnostic tests and treatments used. Not only are we prepared to handle it for you, we actually have a Certified Interventional Radiology Cardiovascular Coder on staff!

Beyond breathing: How COVID-19 affects your heart, brain and other organs.

tinyurl.com/CovidHeartHealth

The leadership team at MDAssociates, Inc. has a keen eye for detail. As part of our Practice Consulting services, we offer:

Financial analytics
Documentation audits
Coding evaluation/education
Practice startups
Strategic planning
Process improvement
Human capital evaluation

There is no project too big or too small! Call 1-844-MDASSOC or contact us via our website to discuss how we can meet your needs.

https://www.mdassociatesinc.com/contact-form/

As they do annually, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) released new coding guidelines. You, the medical provider, could take the time required to stay up-to-date on this year after year… OR you could call MDAssociates, Inc. You are a specialist in your chosen field of medicine, we are specialists in Medical Billing & Financial Management. Call us! We're happy to help!

Uber Health, Socially Determined team up to connect patients to healthy food, prescription delivery

http://tinyurl.com/y9xbtetm

The low temperature this week was 18°. What better time for a staff appreciation hot cocoa bar? We have the best staff around, SNOW doubt about it! ❄️

We are at the half-way point of January - how's your New Year's Resolution looking? Forbes.com recently provided a list of 5 practical New Year's Resolutions in 2024 for businesses. What's ours? We're glad you asked! Our goals for 2024 are to expand our customer base and increase market share while continuing to deliver exceptional value to our clients.

source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rohitarora/2023/12/29/five-practical-small-business-new-years-resolutions-for-2024/

Get a deep dive into how the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule could impact your pay starting January 1, 2024. Register today for the December 7 webinar at https://bit.ly/47FctzN.

Our office will be closed today, Thursday, November 23rd. We will resume regular business hours on Friday, November 24th.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

A little humor on the Friday before the week of Thanksgiving! 🦃