Quality Payment Program 

• Patient Relationship Categories (PRC) - As of January 1, 2018, Medicare Part B Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)-eligible clinicians may report patient relationships on Medicare claims using PRC codes. While this will be mandatory in the future, reporting of the PRC codes is voluntary during this initial period of implementation. Read more about this online.
• Provider to Patient Exchange Objective - Important changes have been made to improve the workflow for the Provider to Patient Exchange Objective. In Clinical, the Preferences dialog has been updated with two new options that will automatically enable API Access for the patient upon signing a note if their PatientPortal status is pending or enabled, and they are not currently enabled for API Access. In addition, the Patient Access dialog has been updated so that whenever you Authorize the patient for PatientPortal, the system will automatically check the "Enable this patient for API access" option and generate an Authentication code, thereby also enabling them for API access in a single click. For more information on these changes and more, see the latest release notes.

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Insurance News 

• No Fault Claims - ATTENTION NJ Clients:  Effective September 1, 2019, New Jersey auto claims must be sent electronically.  Instructions on getting started with electronic submission of New Jersey auto claims will be sent via email this week.  Please check the email addresses you have on file with STI next week for this important information.
• New Medicare Card Transition Period Ends Soon - Starting January 1, 2020, you must use the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). For more information, see the CMS website.
• Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield -  Starting October 1, 2019, all timely filing deadlines for claims will be 90 days. Read more online.

Technology

• Upgrading from Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 - July 9th, 2019 marked the end-of-life for Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 which means there will no longer be security patches or updates. Since SQL Server is the underlying database software that ChartMaker Medical Suite uses to maintain your data, we encourage you to upgrade to SQL Server 2016. In some cases there may be a need to also upgrade to SQL Standard which may incur a cost. To learn more about these changes, read our latest blog post.
• Electronic Faxing Solutions - With UpDox, we now offer an intuitive electronic solution for faxing that allows you to integrate both inbound and outbound faxing from one easy to use interface. In addition to being able to manage faxing with ChartMaker Medical Suite®, you can also use it to fax any document directly from your computer. To enroll, visit our website today.

Important Notices

• New E-Prescribing Laws Affecting Pennsylvania Physicians - Per the e-prescribing law Act 96 of 2018, practitioners, excluding veterinarians, will be required to issue electronic prescriptions for Schedule II-V controlled substances beginning on October 24, 2019. Click to read more.
• Secure Email Communications With Patients: Using traditional email to communicate with patients is not a secure method. Therefore, be sure to encourage patients to sign up for the PatientPortal to ensure secure communication and safe storage of messages, appointment records, results, and much more. 
• Screen Connect and Client Support: The service we use to screen share with clients for support assistance has been upgraded. Please note, that this may require you to upgrade to a new browser other than Internet Explorer for support requests.