January 23rd, 2012
by: Cecilia Murillo
The Health Professional Service Area designation was established by the Federal Office of Shortage Designation (OSD) to identify geographic areas or population groups with a shortage of primary health care services. HPSA designations are a prerequisite to applying for Rural Health Clinic certification, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program, California’s State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP), J-1 Visa waivers, and some state funding. A geographic HPSA designation can also increase Medicare payments for physician services.
Beginning this year, the OSD is requiring that all 2008 designations be submitted to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) no later than April 2, 2012. If you received a new designation or renewed it in 2008, you must reapply now. Failure to renew your designation will result in the loss of one or more benefits stated above.
HFS Consultants can assist you in renewing or applying for a new designation and submit all the necessary information to OSHPD. Our Licensing & Certification division has completed over one hundred HPSA designations for rural communities and has spoken on this subject throughout California. For more information, please contact Cecilia Murillo at 510.768.0066 ext. 288 or by email at ceciliam@hfsconsultants.com
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
January 10th, 2012
by: Don Whiteside
Hospitals face a change in chief executive leadership for many reasons. A CEO might announce sudden retirement, get promoted to a larger hospital or health system, resign for personal matters or have a difference of opinion with the board of directors regarding the hospital’s strategy and direction.
As HFS Consultant’s managing director of executive search and business development, my experience has been that when there’s a vacancy in the CEO position, it’s often because there’s some kind of crisis and it’s indicative of problems in the organization.
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TAGS: executive search, health system, Hospital Interim CEO
Posted in Hiring, Interim Placement | No Comments »
December 6th, 2011
by: Rich Gianello
An Interview with Rich Gianello, CEO
Q: How did HFS get started in 1991?
A: We were working for the healthcare division of an East Coast CPA firm when we were notified that it was closing. Starting with a small amount of existing work, Steve Rousso and I set up meetings with rural hospitals up and down I-99 and made sales calls for three or four days. We talked about financial feasibility and reimbursement opportunities. One of the jobs from those calls was to become the interim CFO at Westside District Hospital in Taft. That’s how we started.
Q: What was going on in healthcare at the time?
A: The same issues that exist now existed then, the same pressures. There are constant regulatory changes; federal and state programs keep decreasing reimbursement and all facilities must continue to provide quality patient care at less cost. You are expected to do more with less resources. This is a highly regulated government industry. The methodology constantly changes, for example, changing from ICD-9 coding to ICD-10 coding, a much more sophisticated and complex system. But the pressure still exists to cut costs and operate more efficiently.
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Posted in Reimbursement, Revenue Cycle Management, Staff, Strategic Planning | No Comments »
November 29th, 2011
by: John Pfeiffer
You may have received the email below from DHCS requiring your hospital to submit a new Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) Survey by 12/30/11. One of the reasons DHCS is collecting this information is to determine how revenue and expense from the QAF program (aka the provider fee program) are recorded on the 2010 OSHPD annual reports. If QAF data were reported incorrectly, it could skew Medi-Cal DSH payments. DHCS is requiring all hospitals to apply, whether they receive DSH or not, and whether they are a private or public hospital.
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TAGS: DHCS hospital Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) Survey, QAF program OSHPD annual reports
Posted in Health Information Technology, Healthcare Legislation, Hospital Management | No Comments »
November 12th, 2011
by: Bill Deane
The Answers to Participate in the Incentive Program
The Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) portion of the ARRA provides incentives and regulations for the use of electronic health records (EHR) by all Medicare enrolled practitioners, whether a single physician or a multiple site clinic group. These incentives will assist groups in updating their current systems to meet all electronic patient data reporting requirements of “meaningful use,” which are being implemented over the next four years. Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS: certified health information, EHR technology, electronic patient data reporting
Posted in Health Records | No Comments »
October 27th, 2011
by: Bill Deane
In accordance with regulations listed in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), CMS has authorized the Fiscal Intermediaries (FI) to request revalidation of provider information currently on file. This requires the completion and submission of new Medicare enrollment applications (CMS-855A, 855B, 855I or 855R) depending on the type of healthcare provider.
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Posted in Healthcare Legislation, Medicare, Reimbursement | No Comments »
October 2nd, 2011
by: Rich Gianello
The HFS Reimbursement Division contains a group of elite professionals who specialize in assisting hospitals with strategies for successful financial turnarounds.
This core group acts as interim Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers to conduct and implement agreed upon methods for improving operational efficiencies and financial considerations. HFS is recognized for its work with both rural and urban hospitals and is recommended by OSHPD’s Cal Mortgage division for specific situations.
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TAGS: Adventist Health Central Valley Network, hospital bankruptcy
Posted in Financial Feasibility, Reimbursement | No Comments »
September 19th, 2011
by: Don Whiteside
One of our most active practices at HFS is Interim and Permanent Executive Placement. At any given time, HFS is providing from five to fifteen of our clients with interim CEOs, CFOs, controllers, business office managers, decision support executives, etc. And, of course, we also do executive searches to help clients find permanent executives. Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS: short and long term interim projects
Posted in Interim Placement, Recruiting | No Comments »
This summer I was contacted by SPARK, a youth development program whose mission is to inspire middle school youth through workplace-based apprenticeships. The organization was founded in 2001 to help address the astounding 20% nationwide high school drop-out rate.
Several members of the Social Responsibility group at HFS Consultants served a meal at the Glide Memorial this week. Vanessa, Joaquin and I did the seasonal serving yesterday.