Summer 2020

Doctor's Note Dear Colleagues,   During these uncertain times, we at WPS want you to know that we are here for you. We understand that providers’ needs and practices are changing, and though we may not have all the answers, we believe in the importance of dialogue and open communication. Here are a few ways in which WPS has responded to the COVID-19 public health emergency: Timely filing limits will not be enforced for claims submitted between April 1, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2020. Timely filing limits for all provider appeals are waived for the remainder of 2020. Providers who have received prior authorizations for procedures and services that have been canceled or postponed will be granted an additional 90 days to perform the procedure or service. We have temporarily expanded our coverage of telehealth services. Please see the FAQs For Health Care Providers section on our website to keep up to date with the latest changes related to COVID-19.   This issue includes information about how designated Provider Administrators can keep your portal accounts current, along with: How to keep up to date with our telehealth policies and find the current versions of our forms Coordination of care between behavioral health and primary care practitioners How our Case Management program can help your patients We appreciate the care you give your patients and our customers. If you have any questions, please contact me by email at   Jonah.Fox@wpsic.com   or by phone at 608-977-8038.   Sincerely,

Jonah Fox, M.D., M.H.A. Medical Director

Updating your portal accounts Provider Administrators are responsible for maintaining user access accounts. This includes approving user access requests and regularly reviewing user access to ensure that employees who have terminated or who should no longer have access to the portal are deactivated. Previously, Provider Administrators had to call Web Support or submit a secure message via the provider portal to deactivate or reactivate a user’s account. Effective April 26, 2020, Provider Administrators were granted the ability to deactivate and reactivate portal users registered under the same tax ID number through the Administrator's portal account. To view a list of your registered users, select Profile Management followed by Provider Account Management from the Dashboard of your portal account. Users registered to the same tax ID as your account will be listed under the Account Details section. To narrow the list, you can search using the user’s ID, first or last name, or email address in the Provider User Search section.   Review the Current Status column to verify if the correct users are active or if anyone needs to be deactivated. To deactivate a user, click the Deactivate button in the Activate/Deactivate Account column. You should receive a pop-up message asking you to confirm you wish to deactivate the user. Click OK to proceed or Cancel to cancel the request.   To reactivate a user, click the Activate button in the Activate/Deactivate Account column. You should receive a pop up message asking you to confirm you wish to activate the user. Click OK to proceed or Cancel to cancel the request. If you have any questions regarding this process, contact Web Support at 888-915-5477 or send a secure message through the portal account. When you contact us, please have your tax ID, the user’s name, registered email address, user ID, the date of two remittance advices, and the total amount paid for each.

Are you using the most up-to-date forms? The WPS Health Insurance Practitioner Datasheet is a fillable PDF form you can use to notify WPS Health Insurance of any practitioner changes, additions, or terminations within your organization. The most current version of this form (dated 01/2020) was recently updated to include print indicators and clarification of locums’ status. Please discard any previous copies of this form you may have on file and use the most current online version. Using the most up-to-date version of our form ensures you are providing the information we need to process your request efficiently. Use of an outdated form may cause delays in the credentialing, contracting, and/or claims payment processes. In addition, we use the information provided on the Practitioner Datasheet to keep our provider directory up to date, which ensures we appropriately market your services to our customers.

Where to find the latest documents WPS Health Insurance has other forms and documents that are periodically updated. Be sure to regularly visit the WPS website to ensure you are utilizing the most current version.

Coordination of care between behavioral health and PCPs is crucial Coordination of care among providers is a vital aspect of good treatment planning to ensure appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and referral. The importance of communicating with a customer's other health care practitioners cannot be overstated. This includes primary care practitioners (PCPs) and medical specialists, as well as behavioral health practitioners. Coordination of care is especially important for customers with complex medical care needs and those referred to a behavioral health specialist by another health care practitioner. All practitioners should obtain the appropriate permission from these customers to coordinate care among behavioral health and other health care practitioners at the time treatment begins. We expect all health care practitioners to have a mechanism in place to: Discuss with the customer the importance of communicating with other treating practitioners Obtain a signed release from the customer and file a copy in the medical record Document in the medical record if the customer refuses to sign a release Document in the medical record if you request a consultation If you made a referral, transmit necessary information; and if you are furnishing a referral, report appropriate information back to the referring practitioner Document evidence of clinical feedback (i.e., consultation report) that includes, but is not limited to: Diagnosis Treatment plan Referrals Psychopharmacological medication (as applicable)   With this collaborative approach, we can achieve excellent coordination of care and help improve health outcomes.

Telehealth policy updates Visit our website for the most up-to-date information regarding our telehealth policy.

Case Managers can make a difference for your patients Our RN Case Managers are here to help our mutual customers by:     Coordinating health care among providers Providing education regarding their health care needs and concerns Supporting and advocating for improved health care experiences and outcomes Locating available community resources Understanding their health insurance benefits Assisting them to become better health care consumers   Our RN Case Managers work one-on-one with your patients, treating each person as an individual with unique needs and challenges. Through confidential conversations, they get to know your patients and assist each one to overcome challenges affecting their health management and care. Recently, one of our RN Case Managers was referred a patient who was overdue on refilling his medications. The 60-year-old man had type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and a history of heart attack. The patient revealed to the case manager that he stopped taking diabetic medications and stopped taking daily blood sugar measurements because his blood sugar levels had been between 100 and 130. Even though the treatment was working, he believed he no longer needed to take the medication as long as his blood sugar was under 200. He made these changes without notifying his physician. Our Case Manager emphasized the importance of checking with your doctor before undertaking any changes in prescription medication. The Case Manager also explained how even slight continuous elevations of blood glucose can cause damage to small vessels, which can lead to kidney and circulatory damage. The patient was not aware of the danger of these repercussions, especially with his medical history. The patient called his doctor and was able to schedule an appointment for the very next day. He has resumed taking his medication and measuring his blood sugar daily, with good results. By providing information and guidance, Case Managers can help flag potential problems and ensure patients are following the prescribed course of treatment, resulting in better outcomes. If you have a patient you feel might benefit from Case Management Services, please contact Medical Management at 800-333-5003   and ask to speak with a Case Manager or email wpshi.case.management@wpsic.com .

Medical policy updates and review The Medical Policy Committee recently met and approved the medical policies due for annual review.    View the revisions to medical policies.   Please be sure all doctors, other clinical staff, and office staff are aware of these changes before submitting requests for coverage. We ask that you share these policy changes with providers who may be ordering or performing services and clinicians who may be referring patients for services.   The complete library of our medical policies can be found at  WPS Coverage Policy Bulletins  on our website; no password required.   A technology assessment process is applied to the development of new medical policies and review of existing policies. Policies are reviewed annually, or sooner when there is a significant change reported in the scientific evidence. Published scientific evidence, clinical updates, and professional organization guidelines are reviewed throughout the year, so you can forward a published article at any time.     We value practitioner input regarding the content of our Medical Policies. If you have published scientific literature you would like to have considered or have questions or comments about policies, please forward them to our Medical Policy editor at  medical.policies@wpsic.com  or 800-333-5003   Policies that will be reviewed in the upcoming months include the following:   July 2020 Microprocessor Controlled and Myoelectric Limb Prosthesis Shoulder Replacement Surgery Urine Drug/Alcohol Screening and Testing Cell-Free Fetal DNA Testing Pneumatic Compression Devices August 2020 Cochlear Implants, BAHA, Auditory Brainstem Implants, and Other Hearing Assistive Devices Pectus Excavatum, Pectus Carinatum, and Poland Syndrome Treatment Septoplasty and Rhinoplasty Surgical Removal of Redundant Skin and Face/Neck Lift Procedures September 2020 Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (Wound Vac) Otoplasty and Reconstruction of External Ear Varicose Vein Treatment GI Pathogen Testing Using Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (mPCR)

Reimbursement highlights

Check out our Reimbursement Policies included on our website under Provider Resources, Support and Education. The most recent policies listed: Anesthesia Reimbursement Policy Itemized Bill Review for Inpatient Hospital Claims Future policy: NCCI Surgical Spine Editing We also encourage providers to use the Claim Edit System ® (CES) application available within our provider portal to view and edit results and rationale that will be applied to specific code combinations. The CES application is available to all contracted providers through our provider portal . If you do not currently have a provider account, please complete the Request for Provider Access form on our website. For questions regarding medical coding related to policies, you may contact the Code Governance Committee at codegovernance@wpsic.com . For questions regarding the policies outside of medical coding, you may contact Provider.Reimbursement@wpsic.com .

Utilization Management follows timeliness standards

WPS adheres to the following timeliness standards for review of requested services. The standards include: Non-urgent pre-service decisions are determined within 15 calendar days of receipt of the request Urgent pre-service decisions are determined within 72 hours of receipt of the request Urgent concurrent review decisions are determined within 24 hours of receipt of the request Post-service decisions are determined within 30 calendar days of receipt of the request These time frames are dependent on the inclusion of necessary clinical information upon receipt of the request. We may request additional medical records if the information submitted to make a determination is not sufficient. If we cannot make a decision by our standard deadlines, we notify the affected customer and requesting provider that an extension is necessary. The date by which we expect to make a decision is included in that notice. We consistently strive to exceed these standards and meet the needs of our customers.

Affirmative statement on incentives

Utilization Management (UM) decision-making is based only on appropriateness of care and service and existence of coverage. The organization does not reward practitioners or other individuals for issuing denials of coverage. Financial incentives for UM decision-makers do not encourage decisions that result in underutilization.

Coming soon! Prior authorizations for CPAP rentals available by phone

WPS is happy to announce that we will soon be able to process most Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) rental prior authorizations over the phone, allowing patients to begin receiving care much more quickly! Once implemented, you will be able to speak with one of our Intake team members and receive immediate notification if the rental is approved or requires additional review for medical necessity. *    When calling WPS for a CPAP rental prior authorization, please be prepared to provide: Sleep study results, including Apnea-hypopnea Index (AHI)/Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI)/ Respiratory Event Index (REI) Patient’s diagnoses, including any comorbidities HCPCS codes Ordering physician’s name Date the rental will begin *Some cases may require additional review by our medical director.

Enroll in Electronic Data Interchange for faster claims payments

COVID-19 continues to affect businesses across the world, including Wisconsin.  WPS is doing our part to reduce the spread of the virus by following social distancing guidelines and recommendations. Our Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) teams are dedicated to reducing the impact of COVID-19 on processing claims for our community providers. One example is by alleviating potential processing and payment delays for non-electronic claim submissions. If you have not already enrolled in the option to submit your claims electronically, you are encouraged to do so by visiting   WPS Health Insurance .  Filing electronically will help speed up your claims processing. WPS Health Insurance also partners with the nationally recognized Committee for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) EnrollHub ® solution and combines enrollment capabilities for electronic funds transfer (EFT) and electronic remittance advice (ERA). Not only is this faster, but it is at no charge to your practice!

WPS Health Insurance | 1717 W. Broadway | Madison, WI |  wpshealth.com See what's happening on our social sites:

‌ ‌ ‌

©2020 Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation. All rights reserved. JO17373

33707-100-2006