Be of Good Cheer!

What gifts are you giving this year?

It is the holiday season and it is generally a time of great cheer, regardless of which holiday (or holidays – who says you have to just enjoy one?) you participate in.  Bright lights, presents, lots of cookies, and shared joy – What’s not to cheer about!  You may not be aware that there is a line before “Be of Good Cheer”.  In my mind the pre-line is “Be of Service” and then Be of Good Cheer.  The one sure way to I know to be of good cheer during the holiday season (or any of time of the year) is through service.  Giving service of any kind brings cheer both to the giver and the receiver. It is a magical combination.  Times are lean for so many right now, but nothing can take away the best gift anyone can give- service. 

Now service can be a big thing (helping someone get a new house for example), but most often it is a thousand little things that paint a bigger more cheerful picture.  In my opinion, your presence is the most special gift you can give, because you are the only one who can give it.  Service can be a smile or a kind word to someone who is lonesome, it can be holding a door or carrying a package for an overloaded mom, it can be giving of your time (as in your physical, mental, and spiritual presence). 

Sometimes just physically showing up can ease stress and burden or give joy (now don’t get cocky here – this definitely works for mothers, but in order to really work true magic it needs to be tied in to a little bit more).  Mentally being where you are is huge, especially over the holidays.  Make sure to mentally be where you are.  Listen when someone is talking to you, help out in the kitchen, compliment the effort put into decorating, creating, and even dressing.  These items will ensure that you are the best present ever and I can promise that you will never get passed over. 

Now spiritual- we don’t always like to talk about the spiritual, but most of us have beliefs and we can share our spirits without tromping on anyone else’s spirituality or beliefs.  Keep in mind that there are many families missing loved ones who have died or are deployed with the military, many may have lost pets, jobs, houses, or even their own faith. Keeping them in your hearts and wishing and hoping the best for them is serving them with spirit.

Well, it’s time to go celebrate, eat lots of cookies and be of good cheer.  Go forth and serve one another both now and in the coming year and I won’t have to worry about your level of cheer, I’ll just have to worry about cheering you on! 

Thanks for being friends, clients, partners, and family of Genius Solutions.  We wish you even more of every good thing in the New Year!

The New CMS-1500 Form & dT/dTLite: IMPORTANT!

A fax letter went out over the last week to all of our dTHOMAS and dTHOMAS Lite clients:

Here it is. In case you missed it or it didn't come through cleanly.

Dear dTHOMAS and dTHOMAS Lite clients:

An update will be released for dTHOMAS allowing for the use of the new CMS 1500 form before the April 1, 2014 deadline. This does not include the ability to send claims in the ICD‐10 format. dTHOMAS users are encouraged to switch to eTHOMAS prior to the ICD‐10 deadline which is slated for October 1, 2014.

When this update is released, Genius Solutions will send emails out to its clients with instructions on how to use it. Please verify that Genius Solutions has a valid email address for your office:

• Have you received an email from us in the last few months? If not, please email support23@geniussolutions.com with an email address that you would like us to have on file.  (Include your office name and account number please.)

• Also, verify that email from Genius Solutions is not being filtered into your “junk” or “spam” folders.

Sincerely,
Genius Solutions, Inc.

Upcoming Genius Events for 2014

First up

How are you feeling about ICD-10?

For ALL eTHOMAS Users:
We will be holding weekly webinar sessions to help you prepare and set up your THOMAS for both ICD-10 and the new CMS-1500 forms.  There will be NO CHARGE for these webinars (they will all be the same, just on different days & you can sign up for it as many times as you wish), but you do need to fill out a registration form for them (everything but the Credit info - since they're free!).  For more information (including dates) click here.

Download Flier with Registration form here.

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Secondly

Come in from the cold.

For all Billing Services
(Not Billers - but clients who do the billing for others):
We will be holding a Genius Healthcare Special Billing Services Seminar January 24, here in Warren, MI.  Click here for more details. 

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Genius Solutions & Gateway EDI preset e-Eligibility

You've asked for it, now we can give it to you... e-Eligibility.  Push a button in eTHOMAS for your patient and receive their insurance eligibility back in seconds.  Don't wonder, know, and get paid now.

Find out more by signing up and joining us for a webinar presented by Gateway EDI on December 10th - 12pm (noon) EST / 11am CST.  For more information on the webinar and to register - click here.

To find out more about e-Eligibility now and what insurance companies' info you can receive visit the e-Eligiblity page on our website.

The future is now.  Have and give peace of mind with eTHOMAS and e-Eligibility.

ICD-10 is Less Than 1 Year Away!

For October 1, 2014 dates of service and after, providers will be required to use ICD-10 to report diagnosis information.  For any date of service prior to October 1, 2014, providers will be required to use ICD-9 codes.  eTHOMAS users will soon update and see new features to assist with ICD-10, including the ability to import ICD-10 diagnosis codes by category and the ability to group ICD-10 codes into types.  (All clients who use dTHOMAS should have received a notice explaining that dTHOMAS will not be updated for ICD-10.)

Genius will be working with the following clearinghouses:

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan
• Availity
• Gateway EDI
• Office Ally
• Administar
• Dmerc Region C
• Zirmed

If you transmit claims to anyone not on this list, please e-mail icd-10@geniussolutions.com with the name of the payer that you send claims to. 

New CMS-1500 Forms

On January 6, 2014 providers may start to use the new CMS-1500 forms.  From January 6, 2014 to March 31, 2014 a period of Dual Use will begin.  On April 1, 2014 only the revised CMS-1500 will be accepted.  Genius Solutions’ expects that the new forms will be available in early 2014.  Both dTHOMAS and eTHOMAS will be able to bill the new claim form.

Genius Healthcare Office Solutions 2013 Grand Rapids Seminar

Be An Office Hero!

November 7th

@ Grand Rapids Hilton
4747 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI  49512
616.957.0100

Morning Seminar Time: 9 am - 1 pm
Afternoon Seminar Time: 2 pm - 4:30 pm 

Click here for more information.
Click here to view and print the event flier with registration.

Novitas Solutions Jurisdiction H & L Phone Change

Documentation has been or will be sent to clients in the following states making them aware that the dial up phone number for direct transmissions to Novitas Solutions will be changing Friday September 27, 2013.

Jurisdiction H includes: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas  Click here for the documentation with details (.pdf)

Jurisdiction L includes: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Click here for the documentation with details (.pdf)

Michigan HealthPlus Sender? More e-Options for you!

First off - if you currently send your HealthPlus claims electronically, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING.  You are good to go.

But now you have another choice.  In order to increase the receipt of electronic claims, HealthPlus claims can now be sent directly to HealthPlus (as they always have been) or to Blue Cross EDI.  If you have been sending your HealthPlus claims on paper because you didn't want to go through the fuss of trying to send to them separately you can now sign up to send your HealthPlus claims via BCEDI.

For more information on sending your HealthPlus Claims through BCEDI, as well as what you will have to do in THOMAS, please download this HealthPlus_eclaims.pdf.

Again- if you are successfully sending electronic claims to HealthPlus YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING.  If you want to change how you send, please view the download instructions. 

FAQ: Tablets and THOMAS

Many of you have been asking about using THOMAS with a tablet and the answer depends upon the THOMAS product you are using, your networking and wireless set up, and your patience.
First off, no matter what THOMAS product you are using, you would need to be using Microsoft Server, with a Terminal Server and terminal services, (and good wireless).  Both eTHOMAS and ehrTHOMAS are not natively housed on each computer.  You connect to your server and are using your server as the brains and brawn.  The computer or tablet you are using to input data basically becomes a “terminal” to access and use the product on the server.

Before you finish raising your hand, let me say (for those of you who might use remote desktop to access one computer from another) – technically yes, you could use a remote (like “remote control”) to access and use the program on another computer, but those of you have done it with a regular computer know that both the computer you are using and the computer you are accessing are not available for anyone else to use or access. Both computers are tied up. It also tends to be very slow and gitchy – even with a regular computer.  This is usually not a preferred solution and is generally only even suggested by us if you have to connect to another location’s computer (like when we connect with you for support).  Odds are if you are using more than 3 computers in your office our hardware specialists talked to you quite diligently about terminal services.  If you are using any kind of wireless access in your office – I know they did for sure.

So now what? Now we talk about products:

ehrTHOMAS was designed for touch screen and is designed, from the beginning to be finger friendly.  The size of the screens and buttons in the program are designed for you to use with a tablet.  So yes, if you want to use tablets with your ehrTHOMAS system, contact support and they will help you evaluate your current hardware and networking and let you know what you need to do to set up ehrTHOMAS to use your tablets (as well as any hardware, tablet, and software recommendations they might have).

We’ve been getting asked more and more often lately if there is an eTHOMAS app or if eTHOMAS and be readily used on a tablet device.  eTHOMAS, our practice management system, in its current design, is NOT designed for tablet (i.e. iPad, Galaxy, Kindle, etc.) use.  Can it be done? We don’t recommend it as the current buttons, controls, screens, fonts, and reports were all designed for desktop use.  That being said it is possible to lump through many of the screens, and in a pinch you might have to do this from somewhere if all you have is your tablet and you are the doctor checking on some patient information.  But there are areas that will probably not work right and things you won’t be able to see and access properly, etc.  It doesn’t work well.  You would have to be using remote desktop and explained above, and it can be slow, choppy, and hard to read and use.  We can give you are best hardware advice on it, but we will not recommend eTHOMAS to tablet for now.

Will eTHOMAS ever be tablet friendly?  In its next major version, I would pretty much bet on it.  If you have not had a chance to see or experience our ehrTHOMAS program, I would highly recommend that you schedule a demo.  That is the future of THOMAS and where even our beloved eTHOMAS program will be going as we evolve our programs for both industry and government standards and to make those standards easy for your office to use and grow with.

If you have want to add new equipment, upgrade old equipment, etc. always feel that you can call and talk with our hardware support specialists.  We care.  We’ll make sure that you get what you need to help your office run great and let you be the genius!

Do you send Medicare Part B in MN, WI, or IL?

Attention electronic and paper submitters for MN, WI, and IL:

Do you currently send Medicare Part B paper and/or electronic claims for the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois? Changes to the claims address and payer ID will need to be made effective September 7, 2013.  All claim files or claim status inquiry files submitted after 4:00 p.m. CT on September 6, 2013 with the any of the WPS legacy payer IDs listed above will be rejected with the X12 999 transaction with the IK403 value of I12 (Implementation Pattern Match Failure). These files will need to be corrected and resubmitted to National Government services with the correct J6 payer ID. The final WPS legacy ERAs will have a paid late of September 6, 2013 and will be available on Monday, September 9, 2013. All subsequent ERAs will show the J6 payer ID as the Medicare payer identifier.

If you did not receive the letter we mailed out to you - and you need help making these changes in your system, please call support at 586.751.9080

BCBSM (MI) Trading Partner Submitter Edits

In case you missed it: 

The July 2013 edition of The Record announced that effective August 19, 2013, BCBSM will begin issuing new edits and distributing new informational 277CA reports front-end edits for professional and institutional claims.

The new 277CAX - Professional and 277CAZ – Institutional reports will return informational edits for claims submitted to BCBSM with a NPI/submitter ID combination that does not match their EDI enrollment files for you.  As a trading partner, if you get any of these edits, you must correct the problem with your submitter information by the end of 2013. Early 2014, these new “informational” (or warning) edits will become "hard edits," and your claims will be rejected.

If you have questions about the informational edits or hard edits you should check your BCBSM EDDI and web-DENIS message boards or they direct you to their EDI Helpdesk number, which they post as 1-800-542-0945.

Genius Solutions' Fall Training Schedule is now available for download.

Genius Seminars are @ Soaring Eagle Next

Be An Office Hero!

August 12

@Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd
Mt. Pleasant, MI  48858
888.732.4537

Morning Seminar Time: 9 am - 1 pm
Afternoon Seminar Time: 2 pm - 4:30 pm 

Click here for more information.
Click here to view and print the event flier with registration.

Free eTHOMAS Lite Webinars

dTHOMAS Lite is becoming eTHOMAS Lite.  Join us for a free webinar to learn more: July 9 or 11th at 11am or July 17 at 2pm (EST for all).


Sign up here:
July 9th 11am EST
July 11th 11am EST
July 17th 2pm EST

Genius Healthcare & EHR Office Solutions

Be An Office Hero!

July 11

@ Warren City Center
1 City Square
Warren, MI  48093
586-574-4520

Morning Seminar Time: 9 am - 12:30 pm
Afternoon Seminar Time: 1 pm - 3:30 pm 

Click here for more information.
Click here to view and print the event flier with registration.

Billing Provider Contact Information- In Claims

Change is Inevitable.

Beginning April 15th,2013,  new edits will be going out to BCBSM EDI users:

A3 85 127 F906 BILLING PROVIDER COMMUNICATION NUMBER IS MISSING OR INVALID.
A3 85 127 P940 BILLING PROVIDER COMMUNICATION NUMBER IS MISSING OR INVALID. 
A3 85 127  F907 BILLING PROVIDER COMMUNICATION NUMBER IS MISSING OR INVALID.
A3 85 127  P941 BILLING PROVIDER COMMUNICATION NUMBER IS MISSING OR INVALID.

All of the new edits are triggered by the incorrect reporting of billing provider contact information (phone/fax/e-mail).

Per BCBSM EDI, "Submitters may avoid receiving one or more of the edits by ensuring that they report telephone numbers and fax numbers in the correct format - 10 numeric only, without spaces or special characters."

Per BCBSM EDI, these edits will definitely apply to Medicare Advantage claims.

Why did I put this in here generally - instead of just marking it for Michigan only?  Because this is probably a trend.  You need to read your EDI bulletines regularly to know what changes are being made in your area.  There are always changes.  Also, something like this "contact info" change, is the kind of trend that you will see spreading fast.

So-

1. Check your bulletins (and feel free to send us a note about any changes in your local area- you may be saving fellow offices a lot of grief, and
2. Make sure your provider contact information is correct and accurate.

Genius is no longer the support for iPatientCare

Genius announces that as of April 1st, 2013 ehrTHOMAS touch screen EHR is fully deployed and we will no longer be the support for iPatientCare. Click here to read the 2-pg client letter(mailed out) for further details if you are currently utilizing iPatientCare EHR software.

eTHOMAS v9.3 is Here!

Yep, this is pretty much what it looks like outside right now.

Well, Well – oh happy day, eTHOMAS v9.3 is here. The servers are being updated with care, as we chat here, and the update document and instructions have been lovingly gathered and prepared for you.  New version releases are often like getting a box in the mail addressed to you, full of good stuff.  Are you ready?

I threw together a quick list of some of the features I really like that might rock your world – or at least let it be a happier place.


Enhanced patient benefit viewing and use options in eTHOMAS.  There is a new system setting called BENEFITS.

• Option=1 Patient benefits are expired or non-existent? THOMAS will automatically open a box for you to add them.  
• Option=2 Patient benefits are expired or non-existent?  You can go ahead and post and not worry about seeing any annoying reminder pop-up boxes.  
• Option=3 Patient benefits are expired or non-existent and you are in the benefits list? You will be able to toggle between and choose which benefit you/they want to have active for the charge.

Now you can access and view 835 payment reports directly in eTHOMAS. This includes being able to click on a patient insurance payment and have it link you to the 835 it was autoposted from. We’re having some fun now huh?!  :D

You asked for it- wish granted!  You will now be able to add a two-line, patient specific message that will print out on your patient paper statements.

There are some new eTHOMAS group and individual security enhancements that are now available to you.  The one that caught my eye first is the ability to set effective and expiry dates for employees with access to your THOMAS system.

UB04 – if you need it and use it you know what it is.  Yes, there are enhancements in the new version for you too!

You can check for more changes listed under “what’s new” under Messages in eTHOMAS. And for the full what is and how to manual for v9.3, you can view the new features documentation at http://www.media.geniussolutions.com/

eTHOMAS v9.3- proof again that we really do care!  Ok, now go follow the best practices for updating your eTHOMAS (i.e. get everyone out of THOMAS, back THOMAS up, do the AutoUpdate, and have a cuppa something good while you wait for us to deliver new THOMAS goodness to you).

Upcoming Slushy Trainings

(Ok, so they're late winter/early spring to be technically correct.... but Slushy explained it so much quicker.  :D )

-0 degrees in Michigan Jan 2013...burrrr.

Ready to learn something new or upgrade a current skill area?  Here are some upcoming Genius training offers to set aside time for:

• March 14, eTHOMAS Auto Post Webinar
• March 11, eTHOMAS Tips & Tricks Class
• April 16, eTHOMAS Reports Class
• April 18, eTHOMAS Posting Techniques Webinar
• May 15, eTHOMAS Appointment Book Class
• May 16, eTHOMAS Transaction Ledger Webinars

For more information visit us.

The Genius Florida Seminar is BACK!

   

Genius Healthcare Office Solutions:
The 2013 Florida Seminar

February 1st - Register Now!
9am - 5 pm
$99.00 Per Person
@ Crowne Plaza
200 E. Gregory St.
Pensacola, FL 32501
850.433.3336

More Information
586.751.9080 or seminars@geniussolutions.com
Topics Include:

• Best Office Practices
• Office Compliance Plans
• THOMAS Tips & Tricks
• Eligibility in THOMAS
• ICD-10
• Tech Talk
• EHR
• And More!

*Registration Deadline is January 21st.*