The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland / Northern Ohio Medical Association (AMC/NOMA) has entered a new partnership to benefit our members with Cleveland-based, NextMED Systems, Inc. NextMED will offer web-based practice support services, including billing and medical practice management software to area physicians.
As a technology partner for physician practices and other health care providers, NextMED provides a full line of front office, administrative and clinical software and practice management information systems through a secure virtual private network enhanced by local support. Recent advances provide new tools that increase collections while decreasing the manual work, especially rework done by your staff. These tools are available primarily via the Internet and in coming years, web-based applications will be the industry standard when it comes to running practices efficiently. NextMED, an industry leader in providing web-based software, goes two steps further: 1) integrating these various solutions to speed workflow and eliminate duplicate data entry, and 2) expert to oversight monitor and improve collection performance.
AMC/NOMA has negotiated a 6% discount for AMC/NOMA members for certain NextMED services.
The RPS includes full access to one of several top practice management systemsavailable in our network, the Coding AdvisorTM, Denials ManagerTM, Contract NegotiatorTM, Links ManagerTM, and Virtual Practice AdvisorTM. RPS also includes local support team, including the trainer and technical support, access to a helpdesk, and unlimited online training. Since NextMED understands that running a practice is complicated, we also provide, as part of our standard package, a quarterly visit by one of our Business Performance Specialist. These practice management and collection experts will meet with the practice to review the specific obstacles to payment collection and recommend specific actions for improvement. Revenue Performance System (RPS) is typically priced between $200 and $250 per month per user (6% discount for AMC/NOMA members applies.) This includes:
A choice of name-brand practice management systems.
Electronic claims submission and electronic remittance posting to speed payment and further reduce errors.
Coding AdvisorTM that scrubs claims so they go out right the first time, with both clean demographics and appropriately matching ICD-9 and CPT codes.
Denial ManagerTM that captures the reason for each denial, preventing the same incorrect codes from being submitted time and again.
Contract NegotiatorTM that lets the practice re-negotiate contracts based on what the payers are really paying the practice.
Links ManagerTM to provide electronic links to hospitals and labs.
Virtual Practice AdvisorTM analysis kit that lets the practice know where they stand at all times, with easy to read and interpret, charts, graphs, and tables.
Business Performance Specialist who will meet with the practice quarterly to monitor key indicators, share local expertise which in turn will drive greater profitability.
Local Support team including a trainer and technical support to get the staff quickly up to speed and install and manage any needed hardware.
Help Desk for any operational service.
Unlimited Online training to train the staff in their environment.
Prompt Payment Tracking is available through NextMED’s RPS system. The system gives you the ability to track Prompt Payment Violations.
Billing Service
Outsourced Billing Services- for the practices that want to outsource their billing, NextMED provides submission of claims, posting of payments and follow-up to speed payment.
Optional Automated Patient MessagingTM a computerized phone calling system which contacts patients for appointments, lab results follow-ups or birthdays or cancellations.
Optional Automated ReferralsTM which automates managed care referrals and archives a complete referral and authorization history for each patient.
Optional Electronic Eligibility ManagerTM to check eligibility status and authorization.
Optional Electronic Appeals ManagerTM.
Optional Handheld Solutions, business and clinical solutions in the palm of your hand.
Optional Electronic Medical Record.
Optional Specialty Consulting Services which include, but are not limited to managed care contracts, practice management services, groups practice development, practice succession and practice expansion planning.
Revenue Performance System (RPS) plus Billing- averages 5% to 9% (depending on specialty, etc.) of the practice collections.
Optional Tools- the optional tools depend on what tool you wish to receive and how many physicians or users wish to have access. Whether you wish to add these tools at implementation or six months later, these tools will be available to you.
Implementation Fees- The cost of implementation varies by size of the practice. This is a one time start up fee. The average fee is between $2,000 and $2,500 per physician, depending on group size. This fee covers the development of the dataset for your practice, the visits by the trainer and implementation staff, hardware and network set-up, etc.
DATA Conversion- If you choose to have your data converted from your old system to the new system, there is a one-time charge. The fee varies on the time and effort needed to convert the data as well as the amount of information to be converted. Our IT staff has converted several systems and because NextMED has an in-house conversion staff, the cost passed on to you is far less than if you choose to have an outside company do the conversion.
Connection- The means your practice uses to connect to NextMED. The IT staff at NextMED will arrange for the connection to be installed at your convenience, but the low monthly cost will be the responsibility of the practice. These connection prices will vary from region to region, so after a site visit, the cost will be discussed with you.
Hardware- NextMED is a web-based software system, so hardware must be capable of handling the information. If the current hardware you own is not capable of handling the load, NextMED can arrange for a reasonable lease agreement for hardware and installation, which will in turn be supported fully by the NextMED IT staff. The IT staff will make a site visit and determine the best option for your office.
Lockbox- NextMED systems will assist the practice in setting up a lockbox if desired. This is a monthly fee which is paid by the practice. This is only required for RPS+ Billing clients if they wish.
Once the contract is signed it takes about 6-15 weeks until the “go live” date. This time frame includes several site visits for system set-up and hardware set-up as well as training and reporting. This time frame may vary depending on conversions from one system to another, the size of the practice and other factors. The stages are listed below.
Stage 1
NextMED will send an implementation specialist to your office to review your current software system and workflow processes and determine the best configuration of the system to suite your practices needs. A hardware technician will also meet with the practice to discuss possible hardware configurations.
Stage 2
The second site visit concentrates on setting up the system to match the workflow processes of the practice and reporting needs. The hardware technician will also have Visios (diagrams) of possible hardware configurations and network configurations.
Stage 3
NextMED will train your office on the NextMED tools you have decided on and review hardware basics. The training will involve classes and labs. The labs were created for staff to come in during their free time to review the system and ask any questions they may have had after they left their training classes.
Stage 4
NextMED will supply a “GO LIVE” team which consists of trainers, implementation specialists and hardware technicians, who will be on site the day the practice goes live to ensure the practices transition to the new system is smooth.
Elayne R.
Biddlestone
Linda Hale
Executive Vice
President
Administrative Associate,
Membership/Marketing
The Academy of Medicine of
Cleveland
Telephone: 216-520-0999
6000 Rockside Woods Blvd.
Fax: 216-520-0999
Suite
150
E-mail: ebiddlestone@amcnoma.org
Cleveland, Ohio
44131
lhale@amcnoma.org
IN PROVIDING SERVICES TO AMC/NOMA MEMBERS, NEXTMED AGREES TO COMPLY WITH APPLICABLE FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS AS TO RELATIONSHIPS INVOLVING HEALTH CARE ENTITIES INCLUDING HIPAA REGULATIONS.
AMC/NOMA Members are advised to seek their own legal and tax advice before signing contracts for services of the type offered by NextMED.