The Pulse is the bi-weekly e-newsletter from The Physician Alliance, one of Michigan's largest physician organizations serving more than 2,200 primary care and specialty physicians.
The Pulse of The Physician Alliance
Friday, August 18, 2017
BCBSM site visits a success for all TPA practices

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan conducts annual site visits to check the accuracy factor of physician organizations reporting patient centered medical home (PCMH) and patient centered medical home - neighborhood (PCMH-N) capabilities. BCBSM randomly selects practices in the PO to have a site visit. The practices must achieve an accuracy factor of 95 percent or higher, otherwise all PO practices will receive a negative score.

This year, BCBSM selected four practices in The Physician Alliance for site visits. South Macomb Internists and Gary Bill, MD represented PCMH practices and The Pain Center USA and Sudhir Lingnurkar, MD represented PCMH-N practices.

Hard work, best practices and commitment to patient care at these practices, plus the support of the practice resource team and TPA staff, helped TPA achieve 100 percent accuracy factor! Congratulations to these practices!
Get started with e-prescribing of controlled substances

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that almost 100 Americans die every day from drug overdoses, including legal prescribed drugs. In an effort to help combat the growing epidemic, The Physician Alliance is working with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and our more than 2,200 physicians to increase the number of controlled substance prescriptions submitted electronically.
 
Mark T. O'Brien, DO 
The e-prescribing of controlled substances initiative strives to increase electronically prescribed controlled substances to 25% by December 31, 2017. TPA's rate is 18% for first quarter 2017 (an increase from 12% the previous quarter) and the PGIP rate is 19.5% (increased from 15%).
 
Mark T. O'Brien, DO launched an opiate re-evaluation project in his practice for the 70 patients he treats for chronic pain. This project includes a patient education component, simplified pain management contract, MAPS review with the patient and baseline UDS on all patients. Dr. O'Brien said that "electronic prescribing of controlled substances has been a credible expansion of the efforts (to monitor and treat patients using controlled substances). Intervals of prescribing (controlled substances) are well-defined, undisputable and allows the pharmacy to participate in enforcing proper treatment. E-prescribing also is more convenient for his practice and patients.
 
E-prescribing of controlled substances requires physicians to present a two-factor authentication to prove their identity as an approved provider. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) requires two of three authentication options: something the provider knows, something the provider has, and something the provider is. Options for two-factor authentication include:
  • Hard token: A cryptographic password/key is sent to a hardware device (smartphone, key fob, etc.) that the physician enters into the EMR
  • Fingerprint scanner (this is the most common identifier for "something you are")
  • EMR login credentials/password
Ready to get started with e-prescribing of controlled substances or need more information?  
Missed some news and updates?

If you missed reading an issue of TPA's bi-weekly e-newsletter or the quarterly printed newsletter, you can catch up on past issues by downloading from the website.

While you're on the website, don't forget to check out the patient education materials, Affiliate Partners program details, education videos and more!
Education seminars focus on coding and compliance

Don't miss two upcoming education seminars to help practices improve revenue, compliance and patient care! Space is limited (and both seminars are filling up) so register today!

BETTER BILLING PRACTICES
Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017; 8-10am
This seminar focuses on improving billing practices. Learning objectives include how to improve underutilized billing codes and risk stratification-assessing patients. Q&A will follow the program.

Speaker: Jill Young, Young Medical Consulting
Who should attend: Physicians, billing staff, care managers & office managers
 
REGISTER  for this seminar.   
 

FREQUENTLY-ASKED COMPLIANCE QUESTIONS
Friday, Sept. 15, 2017; 8-9:30am
Learn how to keep your practice safe from potential vulnerabilities, protect your practice from a breach and avoid conflicts by having a lawyer review your contracts.

Speaker: Lori-Ann Rickard, Rickard & Associates
Who should attend: Physicians, office managers and compliance officers

REGISTER for this seminar.


LOCATION FOR BOTH SEMINARS:
St. John Macomb Hospital - Oakland Education Center, 27351 Dequindre, Madison Heights

Continental breakfast provided.
Learn about BCN Health e-Blue during webinar

Blue Care Network and Partners in Care are hosting a webinar to share the various functions and questions about Health e-Blue. Two dates are available (the same information will be shared) - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 8am OR Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 8am.

The webinar focuses on using Health e-Blue, including:
  • How to pull a physician's patient panel
  • How to run a report for treatment opportunities by condition
  • How to enter data into Health e-Blue
  • Review of Panel Service Episodes
  • Review of quality summary reports
Register with Beth Breyer, provider relations representative, at Elizabeth.Breyer@Ascension.org or (586) 753-0996
Leonard Bros. Data Management works with practices to manage document storage. Services include HIPAA compliant secure storage and confidential document handling, disaster recovery, scanning services, shredding and more.

  Learn more about these services.
The Physician Alliance | 20952 Twelve Mile, Suite 130, St. Clair Shores MI 48081 | 586-498-3555
thephysicianalliance@thephysicianalliance.org | www.thephysicianalliance.org