We have news for you!  

While our Michigan members and the rest of the country are facing challenges related to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Board of Directors would like to share information that can be helpful to find sources of relevant information at this time.  There are three items listed under opportunities for remote learning and a call for papers as it relates to COVID-19. 

We wish each of our members good health and safety, looking forward to a future when we can once again come together!

1. Opportunities for remote learning (Three are listed below)

1a. Free Webinar on Michigan Billing and Coding for COVID-19 Services including Telemedicine

Webinar Title: MICHIGAN BILLING & CODING FOR COVID-19:REPORTING CORONAVIRUS RELATED SERVICES INCLUDING TELEMEDICINE

Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST

Registration: Please register as soon as possible for this free webinar.  

Questions: Please contact Claudia at cchavez@uphcs.org if you have any questions regarding this training.

Course Description:

This program is intended to provide an overview of the current pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) also known as the COVID-19 coronavirus.  We will provide some basic information about the virus itself in addition to how it is impacting private individual and group medical practices, Rural Health Clinics (RHC), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) from correct coding and professional billing perspectives.  We will cover the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and its impact on properly reporting telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of the items below will be addressed throughout the session:

• A discussion of what the COVID-19 pandemic is and how it is impacting out health system
• Impact of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)
• Applicable CPT, HCPCS II and ICD-10-CM codes will be discussed
• Telemedicine services will be covered
  • Telehealth visits
  • Virtual check-in services (VCS)
  • E-visits
• “Originating” versus “distant” sites
• Q&A

Presenter: John Burns has worked in the healthcare business arena for more than 20 years.  John focuses on correct coding, optimization of the revenue cycle and managing compliance risk for the healthcare business.  His current focus with the Association for Rural & Community Health Professional Coding centers on providing audit risk assessments and coding reviews for rural and community health centers across the United States.

A special note of thanks:

Peninsula Health Care Solutions, Inc. received a rapid response grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to support providers in advancing telemedicine practices amid the COVID -19 public health crisis. In working with the Peninsula providers, it has become clear that billing, coding, and documentation guidance is needed parrticularly within the Rural Health Clinics (RHCs). The Peninsula Health Care Solutions, Inc. has partnered with ArchProCoding in the past to bring training to this area. At this time this partner has developed a webinar that covers Michigan specific billing / coding considerations for telemedicine.

The webinar capacity is 500 attendees and it open to all MI HIMSS members at this time

1b: Resource Center at the Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS)

MSMS provides a resource center for physicians and patients alike about COVID-19. Visit their website to find a variety of information today. 

1c. Calling All Nursing Informaticists!

For the most current information for Nursing Informaticists, the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) is providing access to their ANIA YouTube channel with seven (7) interviews conducted by Cheryl Parker, RN, PhD, 2020 President of ANIA, to provide valuable information from across health systems who are leveraging informatics to better understand treatment of these pandemic patients. These interviews by Ms. Parker nursing informaticists at Henry Ford Health System, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Inova Health System, Texas Tech University Health Science Center and UMS Healthcare, University of California (San Francisco) as well as EPIC and Cerner experts regarding their efforts to address capturing information about these patients. When contacted, Ms. Parker graciously agreed to share all videos with the Michigan HIMSS member community.

2. Special Call for Papers

Subject: Special Call for LHS/Covid-19 Papers

Letter sent on behalf of Dr. Charles P. Friedman

Colleagues:

I hope this message finds you healthy and managing through these challeging times.

Learning Health Systems is issuing a special call for papers that relate the concepts and/or methods of Learning Health Systems to the current Covid-19 global pandemic.  Submissions in response to this special call will receive highly expedited peer review.  Submissions can be of any publication type, as described in the Journal’s Author Guidelines.

Submitting authors who believe that the journal's standard open-access Author Publication Charges will be an impediment to publication of their paper may apply for a waiver of these charges. A limited number of waivers are available.

I look forward to receiving your submissions. Please write to me (with a cc to Kathleen Young: kayoung@med.umich.edu) if you have questions or if I can be of assistance in any way.

All best wishes,

Charles P. Friedman, PhD

Editor-in-Chief: Learning Health Systems

Chapter Sponsors

We would like to thank our Chapter Sponsors who make our events and efforts possible through their generous support. For any questions or information about Sponsorship opportunities, contact Mr. Lee Marana. lmarana@uphp.com