Your hospital has until early December, 2008 to submit revisions to its PPS 23/FFY 2010 (FFY 2006 review) wage index filing and new Occupational Mix Survey before the wage data is finalized and your wage index is determined.

The Occupational Mix Survey, which covers the 12-month period from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008, must be submitted to CMS no later than September 1, 2008 and will be used to calculate an adjustment to your hospital’s average hourly wage (AHW) that will affect your Medicare reimbursement for the next 3 years. The new survey utilizes 18 cost centers (instead of 14 as in the past), includes Surgical Technologists in the LPN category, and no longer divides the RN category into Staff Nurse/Clinician and Management Personnel.

The Occupational Mix Adjustment has the potential to significantly impact a hospital’s AHW in a positive or negative manner, depending upon the hospital’s ratio of RNs to total nursing personnel. Therefore, it is always a good idea to have an expert such as R-C Healthcare Management review your hospital’s Occupational Mix Survey to ensure that all data has been properly included and categorized, since the resulting adjustment has such long-term effects upon the wage index.

With so much money riding on a hospital’s Form 2552, Worksheet S-3, Parts II and III wage data submission, it is critical to fully optimize that submission—and that’s where R-C Healthcare Management’s Wage Index Expert Review (WIER) program can help. Our WIER program provides an extensive, on-site , detailed review of a hospital’s wage data submission and all of the source documentation and backup data that supports each line item. Every line item is evaluated for accuracy, compliance with federal regulations, and consistency with R-C Healthcare Management standards, which are based upon current and historic wage data submissions for all hospitals throughout the U.S. A review of hospital books and documents is conducted specifically to determine if additional items should be added or modified in order to generate additional reimbursement income. The Worksheet S-3 revision letter and supporting documentation package is prepared by our experts and provided to the hospital for submission to its fiscal intermediary (FI). And as an added bonus, a review and analysis of the hospital’s Occupational Mix Survey is included at no additional charge . The hospital’s resubmission is followed through CMS and FI channels, with our staff providing assistance with FI and wage index issues, including defending revisions and filing appeals as needed. The WIER program is very comprehensive and has been instrumental in helping thousands of hospitals across the country to receive the optimum Medicare reimbursement.

This year the WIER program will also focus on a deep analysis of the hospital’s legal and consulting fees to determine how many of those expenses can be included on Line 22.01 (Administrative & General Under Contract) on the Worksheet S-3, Part II. Now that CMS is including the dollars and hours for this line item in its calculation of the wage index, it is especially important to ensure that all applicable costs are included in the wage data submission.

R-C Healthcare Management’s Wage Index Expert Review (WIER) program assists hospitals individually to improve their AHWs and corporately to improve their CBSA’s area wage index (AWI). Our WIER program has yielded successful results and satisfied clients at hospitals of all sizes and in all areas throughout the United States.

For more information on how R-C Healthcare Management can help your hospital to receive all of the Medicare reimbursement dollars to which it is entitled, please call us at (800) 862-5368 or e-mail Ken Webdale (kwebdale@rcmgmt.com) or Lee Ann Frade (lfrade@rcmgmt.com).