In this episode, we’re pleased to welcome back Kristin DeGroat, BESLER’s Compliance and General Counsel Officer, and Christina Brown, BESLER’s Director of Reimbursement Services, to give us a glimpse into our upcoming webinar, Guide to Appeals, live on Wed., April 3, at 1 PM ET.
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Learn how to listen to The Hospital Finance Podcast® on your mobile device.Highlights of this episode include:
- What the Guide to Appeals webinar will be about
- Legal perspective
- Reimbursement perspective
Kelly Wisness: Hi, this is Kelly Wisness. Welcome back to the award-winning Hospital Finance Podcast. We’re pleased to welcome back Kristin DeGroat, BESLER’s Compliance and General Counsel Officer, and Christina Brown, BESLER’s Director of Reimbursement Services. In this episode, Kristin and Christina will give us a glimpse into our upcoming webinar, the next in our Fundamentals of Reimbursement Webinar Series, Guide to Appeals, that we are presenting live on Wednesday, April 3rd at 1 PM, Eastern Time. Welcome back and thank you for joining us, Kristin and Christina.
Kristin DeGroat: Yes, thank you for having us.
Kelly: No problem. Glad to have you guys. So, let’s jump in. We’ll start with Christina. Can you tell us what this webinar is about?
Christina Brown: Sure thing. That’s a great question. So, in this webinar, we’re going to be providing an overview of appeals. And this is going to include things like what types of items qualify for an appeal, the timing constraints related to filing appeals, and other areas to consider when exploring the potential of filing an appeal. And this is all, of course, as it relates to hospital reimbursement. So as a hospital reimbursement professional, appeals can be tricky, which is why this webinar will be a joint presentation with our general counsel, as well as one of our resources that we regularly use for appeals.
Kelly: Yeah, appeals is such a hot topic. Kristin, do you have anything to add from the legal perspective?
Kristin: Christina talks about kind of from the reimbursement. And I think that tends to get lost. We always think about, “Oh, it’s the provider reimbursement review board and all the stuff you have to do.” But we forget that it all starts with your cost report. So having a reimbursement professional like Christina weighing in with a legal expert in the appeals, I just think that that is an amazing combination. And that’s one of the things that I’m glad we can offer with the webinar.
Kelly: Definitely, love the reimbursement and legal perspectives that we’re going to be bringing. For our reimbursement professionals, Christina, can you address what types of things you’ll be covering in this webinar?
Christina: Absolutely. So, from the reimbursement professional’s perspective, we’re going to be discussing what is needed to protect your appeal rights for the cost report, as specifically as it relates when you file your cost report, and what types of things you need to do to safeguard that for those appeal rights. Additionally, we’re going to touch on what types of things would constitute an appeal and the time constraints that are involved, depending upon which type of appeal it is, and kind of what your situation is.
Kelly: Yeah, that sounds like it’s going to be very interesting. Kristin, what are some of the takeaways from this webinar, from your perspective?
Kristin: Well, I would say, as it says, a guide to appeals, a little bit of a guide post going through and saying, “Okay, I start here with my cost report. I file all of the correct items. I follow the PRRB timeframes, and I get my appeal rights protected. I file that appeal, and then hopefully I get an increase in reimbursement at the end of the day.” So that’s where we plan to move you from the very beginning and hopefully to the end, although there can be many, many years in between.
Kelly: Yes, I know this can be quite a lengthy process. And it sounds like the webinar is going to contain some really interesting information. Christina, let’s start with you first. Will you be elaborating on the appeal process?
Christina: That’s another great question, Kelly. Yes, once we talk about the types of appeals, we’ll then start to take a deep dive as to what is involved with the appeals process. And that will actually be where my expertise will run out. So this is why it’s important to have a partner to help you through all the legalities of sorting through an issue and filing that appropriate paperwork. But thankfully, we have such people at our disposal for this webinar. Kristin and Leslie will be able to provide valuable insight into that process.
Kelly: I bet, yeah. Kristin, do you have anything to add here?
Kristin: Christina, don’t sell yourself short. Again, yes, the reimbursement professional is such a key part of this. And although we’re going to talk a little bit about the issues that stem from your cost report or that can stem from filing the cost report, we’re also going to look back at what types of things from the reimbursement side you should really be doing that can really help someone like me push those appeals to the finish line.
Kelly: Thanks so much. That makes a lot of sense, ladies. Well, thank you so much for joining us, both of you, Kristin and Christina, and for sharing this sneak peek into BESLER’s upcoming Guide to Appeals webinar that we’re presenting live on April 3rd at 1 PM, Eastern Time. And as a bonus, you can earn CPE. Thanks again, ladies.
Christina: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.
Kristin: Thank you. We really appreciate it.
Kelly: And thank you all for joining us for this episode of The Hospital Finance Podcast. Until next time…
[music] This concludes today’s episode of The Hospital Finance Podcast. For show notes and additional resources to help you protect and enhance revenue at your hospital, visit besler.com/podcasts. The Hospital Finance Podcast is a production of BESLER | SMART ABOUT REVENUE, TENACIOUS ABOUT RESULTS.
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