October 12 , 2006

 

 


In this issue...

 

Click here for a printer-friendly version. (PDF format)

 

Questions?
Call 1-800-666-3883

 

Holiday Closing
Please note that we will be closed in observance of Veterans' Day on Friday, November 10th. Limited Customer Support will be available.

 

Quarterly Free Training
Hands on training is available at our Education Center in historic Smithfield, Virginia:

November 14-17
Clinical Applications, including related Resident Information and Admissions

October 24-27

Admissions, Marketing, Business Office/Billing functions

Please visit our website at http://www.monette.com/
free_training.htm for complete information.

 

Have you downloaded the most current version of ULTRACare? We provide a fresh ULTRACare update on the third Friday of each month for you to download from our secure web site. If you have not already done so, please download the update and install per the instructions provided on the site to ensure that you have all the latest features.

 


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1 Monette Parkway
Smithfield, VA 23430
www.monette.com

eNewsletter Editor: Julie Natzke


Medicare No-Pay/Benefits Exhaust Claims Required
Effective October 1, 2006, a SNF is required to submit a bill even though no benefits may be payable by Medicare. This will allow CMS to keep an accurate record of all inpatient services for a beneficiary, whether those services are covered by Medicare or not. These bills are required in two situations:

  • When the beneficiary has exhausted their 100 covered days under the Medicare SNF benefit (referred to as benefits exhaust bills); and
  • When the beneficiary no longer needs a Medicare covered level of care (referred to as no-payment bills).

For details on this new requirement, please refer to the CMS MedLearn Matters article number MM4292, available on the CMS website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM4292.pdf.

ULTRACare is ready to handle these requirements and will be published as part of our normal monthly update at our Customer Service Secure Site on Friday, October 20th. To learn more about how you can use ULTRACare to accommodate these changes, please download the Technical Bulletin from our Customer Service Secure Site at https://support.monetteinc.com/documentation/ ULTRACare%20Technical%20Bulletins/.

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The UB-04 is Coming Soon!
Receivers (health plans and clearinghouses) will be ready to receive the new UB-04
by March 1, 2007. Submitters (health care providers such as hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospice, and other institutional claim filers) can use the UB-04 beginning March 1, 2007, however, they will have a transitional period between March 1, 2007 and May 22, 2007 where they can use the UB-04 or the UB-92. Starting May 23, 2007 all institutional paper claims must use the UB-04; the UB-92 will no longer be acceptable after this date.

ULTRACare is being updated to accommodate these requirements. The new UB-04 format has been incorporated as a Crystal Form, much like the UB-92, and testing is underway. We will notify our customers when all changes are final and ready for release.

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New ICD-9 Codes Are Available

All customers whose SPSA coverage year started on or after January 1, 2006 have received the updated codes file. If your SPSA year began before this, you should have received a sales order form that needs to be approved and returned to us. We can deliver the new codes file to you very quickly after receiving your order. Effective with all SPSA renewals in 2006, the ICD-9 code updates are included at no extra charge.

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National Provider ID number in ULTRACare?
Yes, ULTRACare already has a place for the NPI. Your facility's number should
be entered in the Admissions module under the Setup menu option.
From there, choose System Setup, and look for the NPI field…that's
where it belongs. There is also one more field for the facility NPI number in the Clinical Application module under the Clinical, Assess, Utilities selection in the
"Edit Electronic Header Record Control Data" option. Look for the NPI
field and enter the facility's number there. For the doctor's NPI, enter those on the doctor code setup screen in the NPI field. This is found in Admissions, Setup, System Codes A-I, Doctor Codes.

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Taxonomy Codes To Be Required January 1, 2007
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an MLN Matters article regarding requirement that effective January 1, 2007, institutional Medicare providers billing for their primary facility and its subparts to report a taxonomy code on all of their claims. You can download the MLN Matters article from the CMS website: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/mm5243.pdf.
.
The taxonomy code will assist Medicare in crosswalking from the national provider identifier (NPI) of the provider to each of its subparts in the event that the provider chooses not to apply for a unique NPI for each of its subparts individually. ULTRACare is ready to handle these requirements and will be published as part of our normal monthly update at our Customer Service Secure Site on Friday, October 20th. There is a new field on the AR System Setup screen where you fill in your Taxonomy Code.

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