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Ask the Consultants
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Q: |
Do we
still need to get our business accredited now that
competitive bidding has been delayed? |
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A:
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Yes. The CMS accreditation
mandate is a separate portion of the law passed by
congress in 2003, and is not tied to competitive
bidding, legislatively. While providers had to be
accredited prior to submitting a bid to the CBA program,
ALL providers have had and still have a deadline of
October 1st 2009 to complete the accreditation
requirement. Providers that fail to do so will be denied
reimbursement on all claims billed to Medicare.
Providers should keep in
mind that there is a typically a several month gap
between the time of applying for an accreditation
survey, having the survey completed, and receiving the
accreditation certificate from the accrediting body.
Providers must have the certificate in hand by the
deadline. This means most providers should be ready for
survey by July or August of 2009, at the latest.
Otherwise they may not complete the accreditation
process in time for the deadline. |
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Q: |
What are the basic things things I need to do to
successfully prepare for an accreditation survey?
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A:
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There are many critical
tasks to be accomplished in order to have a successful
accreditation survey. The focus is on processes that
have the greatest impact on quality of patient care, but
those processes span across almost every aspect of your
business. It's also important to note that running an
accredited company is a way of doing business rather
than a one time project that is completed once the
initial accreditation survey is over.
Download a PDF version of
our
Accreditation
101 presentation to learn more about the basics of
an accreditation survey. |
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Q: |
How
long will it take me to successfully prepare for an
accreditation survey? |
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A: |
Many providers with no
background in accreditation want to know how difficult
the process is, and the simple answer is that it depends
on multiple factors such as your current business
practices, your ability to read the standards and assess
how they can be applied in a practical manner to your
business, and what resources you are willing to invest
to simplify the process.
A large consideration
that every business owner needs to start thinking about
soon is the amount of time it will take for your
organization to come into compliance with accreditation
standards. Waiting too long to get started will result
in undue stress on your employees, and disrupt business
practices to the point of negatively impacting profit
margins and cash flow.
A full-service provider
should plan on beginning preparation at least 8 to 12
months prior to the deadline they are seeking to meet—if
they devote 4 to 6 hours per week on the preparation.
Providers that have multiple locations will need closer
to 12 to 18 months at the same pace to implement
accreditation standards throughout their business.
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Q: |
What's
the value of retaining a consulting company to assist
me? |
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A: |
Experienced consulting
assistance can all ease the learning curve and help you
get it right the first time. It is simply not realistic
to think your employees will be able to drop their
regular duties to focus on accreditation preparation at
the last minute. Competent consulting assistance can
decrease the preparation time by as much as half,
because the focus can then shift from the development of
policies, processes, and procedures, to the
implementation of tried and true processes. |
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More Answers
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Phone: 425.882.2035
Fax: 888.553.1063
Email: Domos HME Consulting Group
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