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KPAMA JournalKeystone Chapter April 2017A Word from Our President, Bill MajorRAISE THE LEVEL: CERTIFY UP!Can the CRCS Certification get me a raise or a promotion? At Wellspan Health, certification and promotion go hand in hand (along with another fancy numeral at the end of your title and a monetary increase). Who doesn’t want that?Currently all entry level billers are given the title of Patient Administrative Services Specialist I. But what if the biller wants to take the next step and move up the ladder? This is where the next fancy numeral comes in…level II! In order to achieve the designation of a level II biller or above, employees must meet all aspects of their current job description as well as the items listed below:Minimum of 2 years as a Wellspan Patient Financial Services or Physician Billing Services employee. (The only exception to this requirement is if an employee was hired with a current CRCS designation and has a minimum of 2 years’ experience within another healthcare provider.)CRCS I or CRCS P Certification. Certification must be maintained or employee will forfeit designation and any rate adjustment associated with it. In addition to certification and experience for level II or above consideration, 4 of the 5 criteria must be completed:Assisted supervisor with training new staffHas been assigned a lead role for a projectHas led a process improvement initiativeHas provided a formal presentation at a quarterly departmental meetingHas accepted additional departmental responsibilities as assigned by the supervisor, i.e. worked special reports on an ongoing basis or cross trained in another area. Upon successful completion and approval of the requirements listed above, you will then be considered a Patient Administrative Services Specialist II. But just remember, in order to keep this title and pay increase, the certification MUST be maintained. Good news though, it is only renewed every three years! Does Your Organization offer a program that enhances your knowledge and pay in healthcare? I sure hope they do. If they do not, this is the perfect opportunity to discuss certification with them. So what are you waiting for, get certified and RAISE THE LEVEL!UPCOMING EVENTSOur Educational Meeting dates/locations for 2017 are as follows:May 18th, 2017 Penn National Grantville, PA.July 19th, 2017AACA Museum, Hershey, PA.September 19th, 2017 Desmond Hotel, Malvern, PA.December 13th, 2017 Holiday Inn, Grantville, PA. Watch your email for more details and registration information!Mark Your Calendars!!!!!!!!!This newsletter is an extension of the Pennsylvania Keystone AAHAM Chapter. If you have articles you think would be interesting to your colleagues, please forward to Richard Olmstead at rolmstead@ or Chad Wallace at cwallace@. Any significant milestones occurring in the Chapter, please send them in. We welcome any and all feedback.The Keystone AAHAM Chapter is always looking for volunteers. It takes a lot of preparation to organize and run the quarterly Educational Meetings. Please contact one of our board members if you are interested in volunteering. The Board thanks you in advance for your consideration.The Keystone AAHAM Certification Corner Spring 2017 What’s New? …Certification Webinars will be FREE this year!As an incentive for studying to become certified, as well as making it easier to earn your AAHAM CEUs, National AAHAM is offering its Certification Webinars for free this year. Note: you must register to participate.Schedule:Certified Revenue Cycle Specialist – CRCS (1 webinar)ThursdayTopicMay 18, 2017CRCS Educational WebinarCertified Revenue Cycle Professional - CRCP (4 sessions)WednesdaysTopicJune 14, 2017CRCP Webinar – Patient AccessJune 21, 2017CRCP Webinar – BillingJune 28, 2017CRCP Webinar – Credit and CollectionsJuly 12, 2017CRCP Webinar – Revenue Cycle ManagementCertified Revenue Cycle Executive - CRCE (4 sessions)FridaysTopicJuly 14, 2017CRCE Webinar – Patient AccessJuly 21, 2017CRCE Webinar – BillingJuly 28, 2017CRCE Webinar – Credit and CollectionsAug 4, 2017CRCE Webinar – Revenue Cycle ManagementCertified Revenue Integrity Professional - CRIP (4 sessions)WednesdaysTopicJuly 26, 2017CRIP Webinar – Overall Review of Charge CaptureAug 2, 2017CRIP Webinar – Ancillary ServicesAug 9, 2017CRIP Webinar – Surgical Services and ProceduresAug 16, 2017CRIP Webinar – Recurring Outpatients and Clinical ServicesIncentives for “Certifying Up” – DiscountsFor those of you who are (or plan to become) AAHAM-certified, and are considering advancing to the next level, AAHAM now offers discounts to move up the certification ladder to earn the CRCP and CRCE certifications. If you have earned a certification within the past year, you are eligible for a $50 discount off the CRCE exam fee, and $50 off the CRCE study guide. The CRCP exam is now $25 off for anyone who earned a certification within the past year along with $25 off the CRCP study guide. We encourage you to take advantage of these incentives.Congratulations to Keystone AAHAM Members who recently earned their certifications! Great Job!!!March 2017Mar 2017 (continued)Joel Griffiths, CRCP-PMatthi Becker, CRCS-IKathy Danner, CRCS-IWendy Flinchbaugh, CRCS-PRenee Fuhrman, CRCS-IDeirdre Kohr, CRCS-IJennifer Krichten, CRCS-ILucille Messinger, CRCS-IKelly Peters, CRCS-IVickie Schweitzer, CRCS-IJennifer Sweitzer, CRCS-I2016-2017 Certification CalendarApril 17, 2017Was the registration deadline for July 2017 certification examsJuly 10-21, 2017July 2017 exam periodAugust 15, 2017Registration deadline for November 2017 certification examsNovember 6-17, 2017November 2017 exam periodDecember 15, 2017Registration deadline for March 2018 certification examsReporting CEUsCEUs can now be reported directly on the AAHAM website using the online CEU reporting form. Online reporting can be used for CEU activity with the exception of Chapter Educational meetings. Those CEUs will continue being reported by the Chapter Certification Chairperson.Study SessionsIndividual and Group Study Sessions are available upon request. Call or email me if interested (info below). Allow plenty of time to prepare; i.e. – four to six months prep time is recommended for the higher level certification exams (CRCE, CRCP, and CRIP).Please contact me if you have any questions on your path to certification, or if you have questions as a certified member.Warm Regards,Carolyn Brown, BBA, CRCE-IKeystone AAHAM Certification Chairperson717-270-2460 (Direct Line); 717-926-3570 (Cell)Email: cbrown31@Why Not Certification?By Lisa Laudeman CRCE-I CRCE-PKeystone AAHAM Board Vice PresidentFor over 40 years, AAHAM’s elite certification examinations have set the standard of excellence in patient financial services and the revenue cycle. AAHAM certifications are an investment in your personal growth and your professional future.Did you know? AAHAM was founded in 1968. Our name then was the American Guild of Patient Account Management or AGPAM. When I sat for my two certifications, the exam was on paper – yes we had to write everything…..many of us remember those “good ole days”. How times have changed.What hasn’t changed is the respect and recognition you receive when achieving any of the AAHAM sponsored certifications. Just look at the job openings on LinkedIn or any other job site, we are now seeing that certification(s) are “required”.Certification shouldn’t only be an investment in ourselves, it should be an investment in our staff. By investing in our staff we build a strong team and develop a career ladder for staff. Not to mention building a network of peers in this influential group of certified AAHAM members.Personally, I achieved the CRCE-I (formerly CPAM) in 1993 and dual certification as a CRCE-P (formerly CCAM) in 1996. Both successes had a profound impact on my personal and professional life. I also made that commitment to my staff. There isn’t much else more rewarding than helping your staff achieve certification. Whether you start them with CRCS and move along the certification ladder, seeing your staff receive the news of their successful achievement of any of the AAHAM certification programs is a great reward.Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to be involved with the certification program at a chapter level and an organization level and it brings me great joy to see those individuals who achieved certification become successes in their own right.Investing in your staff (and yourself) represents professionalism in the individual’s pursuit of excellence to quality of service in their career and the industry.Journey to CertificationBy Carolyn Brown, BBA, CRCE-I, Keystone AAHAM Certification ChairMy journey to certification began in 2004. Sure, I had occasionally thought about the possibility of becoming certified for a few years prior to that, but the timing didn’t seem right. December 2004, I made the decision to pursue my Certified Patient Account Manager (CPAM) designation.There were study sessions beginning in early 2005, so I signed up for them. I purchased the HUGE study guide that was available at that time, and began going through the material. Lisa Laudeman led the study sessions for a great group of people who were all sitting for their CPAM or CCAM exams in 2005.I knew I wanted the summer to study, and I’d take my study material along on car trips and on vacation. I know it sounds crazy, but I was going to read anyway, so why not read with the ultimate goal in mind of passing the CPAM exam. I didn’t want to do this more than once. After all, the exam was 8 hours in duration and was handwritten (pencil, paper, and hand-cramping).Toward the end of summer, we all got a little nervous, but the exam was only a few weeks away. I knew I needed to focus more on certain areas, so I made flash cards for the topics that could be easily studied that way. I also focused on calculations and essay-type questions that would be worth more points on the exam. Like I said, I didn’t want to do this more than once.Exam day came in October, and I spent the day with pencil, paper and persistence. I took my time, and answered to the best of my ability. I went home feeling comfortable with some areas of the exam, and nervous about other areas. It was going to be several weeks until I learned the results of the exam. At that point, there was nothing more I could do, so I waited. I had a very Happy Thanksgiving, as I received word announcing that I passed my exam!The decision to pursue my CPAM was multidimensional: personal satisfaction, the respect of my peers, increase in pay, marketability. These all played a role in my decision, but weren’t all realized at first.My experiences after becoming certified have been wonderful and varied. I was asked if I’d be interested in joining the Keystone AAHAM Board of Directors, and was invited to come to a board meeting to see what it was all about. Since that first meeting, I played a role in our local chapter. In the beginning, I made a rather small contribution, working on the Education Committee. I felt a desire to do more. Later, as Chapter President, I was active on both a local and national level. All chapter presidents serve on a committee of the National AAHAM Board. I chose to be part of the Certification Committee. I never thought at the time that I’d later serve as Keystone’s Certification Chairperson.I’ve attended Legislative Day numerous times and attended several ANIs. I’ve met many wonderful members of AAHAM across the United States, as well as some pretty fantastic speakers. I have helped numerous AAHAM members with their questions, as they have also been helpful to me. It is very fulfilling to be a certified member of AAHAM.At AAHAM, I have more than friends and colleagues; I have an extended family.2017 Legislative Day!3802380000The 2017 Legislative Day is May 1-2, 2017 at theHyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. Several Keystone AAHAM members will be representing our Chapter at this year’s AAHAM Legislative Day.Congratulations to our two scholarship recipients this year, Marlena Kratzer and Allison Fraker who will be attending. This year’s topic is Observation Stay; Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2017. Observation stays deny Medicare beneficiaries access to eligibility for coverage in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF).Look for highlights from Legislative Day in our next issue of the KPAMA Journal! “AAHAM has really understood the legislative and regulatory process and this is why they have had so much success in the past. AAHAM’s leadership has gone the extra mile to ensure AAHAM has a strong voice in Washington” said AAHAM’s lobbyist, Paul Miller.If you have any questions regarding Legislative Day, please email Marybeth.mcmenamin@For more information visit: Platinum Plus SponsorsHealthcare Receivable Specialists, Inc. Bureau of Account Management KeyMed Partners ?National Recovery Agency ?2017 Platinum Sponsors?Financial Recoveries ?Penn Credit ?Arcadia Recovery Bureau ?Credit Management Company ?ProCo Commercial Acceptance Company ?Capio Partners, LLC ?2017 Gold Sponsors?The ROI Companies ?Credit Bureau of Lancaster ?2017 Silver Sponsors?Med Claims International, LLCEMC Soft ?PATHS ?SunStone Consulting ................
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