synergistic_update_august

August 2015

In this issue:

SOS ICD-10 Prep Utility
Your ICD-10 Insurance
Retiring Soon or Selling Your Practice? Talk to us about transferring your SOS license
SOS Electronic Claims Module now Includes Eligibility Verification and ERA
Malware Prevention Programs and SOS Electronic Claims Module
SOS Staff Profile: Kim Giacalone: Customer Service and Marketing

Recent blog articles available:

The Internet of Things (IoT): Where do you touch it?, April 17, 2015
ICD-10 Strategy: Be prepared, April 21, 2015
SOS at-large: Our top 10 blog posts, May 15, 2015
CMS completes second round of ICD-10 end-to-end testing June 3, 2015
Moving with change, June 24, 2015
Change is in the air! Are you ready?, July 21, 2015
ICD-10 Testing and Countdown to October 1, 2015, August 6, 2015
Technology frustrations . . . and dangers, August 21, 2015
How patients can safeguard their PHI, August 26, 2015

SOS ICD-10 Prep Utility

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continue to educate and prepare providers and vendors for the big move to ICD-10 on October 1, 2015, SOS has been ready for well over a year. If you have version 2014.01 of SOS Office Manager, you have everything you need to assure that you can send your files properly starting on October 1, 2015. Updating to the most recent version of SOS (2015.01), which was just released, will give you the latest version of our ICD-10 Prep Utility including the ability to print out a report that can be distributed to providers for review and code entry. While you have everything you require built into our software, you must take some action to make the necessary changes. The software will not do everything for you.

We have prepared a summary page that includes everything you need to know about adding ICD-10 codes into SOS Office Manager. Please take a look to be sure you know exactly what you need to do to assure the new codes are where they need to be starting October 1.

Since diagnosis is the job of the clinician, it is essential that administrative staff work together with clinical providers to assure that the correct codes are entered. There are some circumstances where there is only one possible ICD-10 code to match an older ICD-9 code. Our Prep Utility will make that substitution for you. All others must be made with the input of your providers. And please understand, our utility does not do this on it's own. You must run it!

For behavioral health and substance abuse providers, you must begin using ICD-10-CM codes for diagnostic purposes for all services provided after September 30, 2015. If your organization provides inpatient behavioral health services, get some guidance from your payers about the need to use ICD-10-PCS codes (procedure codes) on your claims. If you submit UB-04 claims on paper or electronically, be sure to check with your payers. There appears to be some flexibility in this matter if you are a residential program or inpatient psychiatric hospital. Be sure to know what your payers require of you.

CMS has created lots of tools and a very detailed web site to help you transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. You can check the CMS Latest News page regularly, or you can sign up for email updates. If you know nothing about the move to ICD-10, start with the web site and tools. These will give you the greatest amount of information the most quickly. But do get started. October 1 will be here before you know it!

If you are an SOS customer, check the version of SOS Office Manager that you are using. If you have a current support agreement, you are entitled to update to the version which supports the ICD-10-CM. If you do not have a current support agreement, give us a call to get a quote to update to the most current version. If you are using version 2014.01, you should see additional ICD-10 fields in your Claim Setup screens (both Professional and Institutional), and you will find the ICD-10 Prep Utility on the SOS Office Manager Tools menu.

Your ICD-10 Insurance

Most SOS customers have been in practice long enough to remember that not all changes go as well as planned. When we made the simple change to using a National Provider Identifier (NPI), most of us could not see any reason why things might not go smoothly. Unfortunately, we were wrong.

For some payers and for some third party administrators, especially for small payers and managed care companies, the process resulted in delays in payment that had drastic effects for some of our providers. Cash flow interruptions of three to four months can devastate a business, so you must be prepared for such a possibility just in case it were to occur. If you do not have that much cash saved in your business, you might want to consider obtaining a line of credit that is large enough to get you through the transition in case one or more of your payers is not ready to make the cutover to ICD-10 a seamless one.

Retiring Soon or Selling Your Practice? Talk to us about transferring your SOS license

Are you in the process of preparing for retirement? Perhaps you are selling your practice. Maybe you would like to turn your billing software over to your office manager. Did you know that, with our permission, your license to use SOS Office Manager or SOS Case Manager can be transferred to another user? This allows you to use your SOS products as an asset controlled by your practice as you negotiate your departure. Just give us a call so you can be sure you have all your ducks in a row. In order to make the transfer of title, you must have a current support/update agreement . . . or your purchaser will have to buy one. The new owner is also required to execute new Software and Support contracts as well as Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with SOS. If you currently file electronic claims through Emdeon, Handshake graphic

there may be re-enrollment tasks that must occur if the Tax ID of the practice is going to change.

Just remember, if you transfer the license of your software to someone else, you cannot retain a copy for yourself. Nevertheless, you have a legal obligation to assure that your patient records will remain available, so be sure to contract with them to retain your practice records for you . . . or you will need to retain printouts of the data for your records. We will be glad to help you work with your accountant and attorney to determine just what needs to occur.

SOS Electronic Claims Module now includes Eligibility Verification and ERA!

SOS Electronic Claims Module for sending claims through Emdeon now provides you with more benefits. With that module, you get the capability of sending your claims, picking up Electronic Remittance Advice through Emdeon's Vision, and verifying insurance eligibility of your current and prospective patients! If you are not sending your claims electronically through Emdeon using the SOS module, you are missing out on faster turnaround of your claims, easy tracking through the filing and payment process, receipt of EOBs through Vision . . . and now, the ability to verify eligibility in real time from within SOS Office Manager. Email Trish or call SOS at 352-242-9100 x1 to place your order!

Please Note: The new Eligibility module will not run on a computer running Windows XP. If you are still using such a computer to send your claims, you will need to update the computer before you can use the new module.

Malware Prevention Programs and SOS Electronic Claims Module

It has recently come to our attention that some malware prevention programs do not play well with the files of our Electronic Claims Module. Both Norton and Avast have settings that assume that any program that wants to contact the internet is malware. Since electronic claims are sent by way of the internet, they keep the module from running. In order to get the claims module (or any other program that accesses the internet) to run, you must place the name of the program on the software's 'white list.' We hope you will consider this when you purchase malware prevention programs. So far, our experience is that Kaspersky and BitDefender are not a problem.

SOS Staff Profile

Kim Giacalone, Customer Service and Marketing

We decided that it might be fun for you, our customers, to know a bit more about those of us who work here at SOS. After all, you talk to us often, but many of you have never met any of us. Kim Giacalone is someone most of you have spoken with since she is the first in line to answer calls coming in to our main phone number. These are Kim’s answers to our standard questions.

How long have you worked at SOS?

It was five years in February. I started part-time, but in January of this year I began full-time.

How would you describe your role at SOS?

As a small company we all wear many hats. My hats include customer service, marketing, order fulfillment, software licensing and general office duties.

I literally learn something new every day - I love it! And, I am privileged to work with a great group of people.

How do you prefer to spend your time when you are not working?

I enjoy time with my family: husband Paul, son Simon (9), daughter Liliana (6) and our dog - Jack. We enjoy exploring Florida, hanging at the pool, taking Jack to the dog-park, bowling and bike riding.

What else would you like our customers to know about you?

I really enjoy DIY (do it yourself) projects I find on Pinterest and similar websites. I recently refurbished a $10 thrift store bench. My current project is to make curtains from drop-cloths found at Home Depot. I also refurbished yard sale finds with spray paint. I love my family, but I adore spray paint!

Thank you for being our customer. We appreciate your business.

Synergistic Office Solutions, Inc. 17445 East Apshawa Road Clermont, FL 34715 352-242-9100