Are Your Medicare and Medicaid Policies Current?

In the midst of floor work, communicating with employees, updating policies and more, it’s no easy feat for healthcare employees to keep on top of everything in an organized manner. With many compliance requirements placed on hospitals, long term care organizations, and ASCs, it’s imperative to keep up with Medicare policy updates. However, reviewing, revising, and approving healthcare policies is time consuming and can easily become disorganized. A policy management system will help automate your hospital policies making the process organized, quicker, and smoother helping you to maintain compliance with CMS.

Below are some ways an automated policy management system can help you keep your Medicare and Medicaid policies current.

No more manual searching: That’s right, no more digging through hard copies or searching endlessly on a server trying to find policies. Most systems contain a robust search feature allowing users to search by document name, details, special keywords or joint commission number. Search results are delivered quickly and intuitively for quick scanning. Since everything is uploaded to the system, you’ll never lose a policy.

Workflow is completely online: When selecting a policy software vendor, it is important to pick a company that can provide the services as an installed solution or cloud-based. The system should be web-based and completely secure using Active Directory as well. Digitalizing the process allows users to start any part of the workflow like new revisions or policy approvals within minutes. The inline word editing feature makes revisions simple and quick, and acknowledging read policies takes a few simple clicks. In order to keep everybody working on a particular policy in the loop, make sure the policy system allows you to attach messages to the policies while sending it on to the next step.

Version management capabilities: There may always come a time when you need to look back on the past version or archive of a policy, whether for compliance reasons, auditing purposes, or more. Most automated systems will provide policy managers reporting tools to document each version, index each policy by date and view on-screen cues alerting status of draft, updated, or expiring documents. Reports can be created using a pdf or excel exports for simple scanning and viewing of past version roles and assignments too. Having these back ups are important to keep on file, and now you don’t have to worry about organizing or losing them.

Notifications and reminders: From email updates, on screen notifications, and control panel reminders, users will always know the status of each policy undergoing the revision process. Additionally, staff members will be notified specifically when it is their turn in the workflow, and what specific task is needed of them. This system ensures employees are organized and up-to-date, and that policies are revised and approved in a timely manner. No more expired policies, only updated policies are accessible.

Staff can attest: As an added layer of security, policy moderators can send read acknowledgement requests to staff before publishing a policy. You can use this feature to ensure staff is aware of newly updated policies. This works very well for new hires or staff transitioning into new roles. In addition, users are unable to attest without opening and reviewing the document.

Additionally, the Emergency Preparedness Rule is now place and will affect the following healthcare facilities so it is even more crucial to be sure your organization is CMS ready with your policies and your crisis management programs.

• Hospitals
• Religious Nonmedical Health Care Institutions (RNHCIs)
• Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs)
• Hospices
• Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs)
• All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)
• Transplant Centers
• Long-Term Care (LTC) Facilities
• Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID)
• Home Health Agencies (HHAs)
• Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (CORFs)
• Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs)
• Clinics, Rehabilitation Agencies, and Public Health Agencies as Providers of Outpatient Physical Therapy and Speech-Language Pathology Services
• Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs)
• Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs)
• Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
• End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Facilities

For more information on how HospitalPORTAL’s policy manager software can help keep your Medicare and Medicaid policies current, take a look at our policy manager features. Or to learn more about HospitalPORTAL’s Healthcare Intranet, please schedule a free demo or request a quote today.