Over the past 41 years, the Medicare system has evolved from a simple per diem and percent of charges payment system to one of the most complex, convoluted and confounding payment systems in the country. With five inpatient programs (acute, SNF, rehab, psych, and LTCH) and eight outpatient systems (APC, Lab Fee Schedule, Ambulance Fee Schedule, DME/POS/PEN, ASC, Home Health, ESRD and RBRVS), CMS has created a payment system so complex that achieving even a basic understanding of it all can consume an extraordinary amount of time. Someone new to healthcare finance, or to government reimbursement, often finds that merely being conversant with all these systems can consume the bulk of the first year or two on the job. This Audiowebcast will provide an introduction to ALL these Medicare payment systems. Our speakers will provide a solid foundation for further study, and a context in which to fit each piece of the Medicare payment puzzle.
In a perfect world, we all would enter this field with total recall of every nuance of every payer's systems. But in the real world, payment mechanisms require a never-ending learning process. Yet, only through an understanding of how these payments are derived can a provider analyst or financial manager be truly effective in his or her role.