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27 Coding, Billing & Collections 503B Outsourcing Facility @pharmedium pharmedium.com 800- 523-7749 O R D E R N O W AT: Experience how PharMEDium has simplifi ed ready to use compounded sterile preparations. P10701 © PharMEDium Services, LLC 2015 PharMEDium_BeckersAd_Redefined_4.25x11.125_15_014_r2.indd 1 9/15/15 4:26 PM 3. Reimbursement rates may change. e major concern voiced by many healthcare professionals is how the mergers may impact reimburse- ment rates. Many fear reimbursements will continue to fall, which is a real possibility for many healthcare facilities. However, individually contracted rates could go the other direction as well. If your center has two separate contracted rates with the merging entities, the payers oen want to roll all members on to one contract so it is not uncommon for the payer to consolidate contracts and/or restructure insur- ance product offerings to employer groups. erefore, it is possible that the ASC could see the lower contracted rates boosted to the higher contracted rates post-merger if the surviving contract is the one with the stronger rates; of course, this could go the other way as well. Every situation is dif- ferent, but with any change there is potential opportunity. "Contract change is not necessarily negative," says Ms. Kehayes. "It is de- pendent on the structure of the payment methodology relative to the case mix of the ASC." 4. ASCs gain access to procedures that weren't in previous contracts. An insurance merger could allow an ASC to perform new pro- cedures that were not previously covered under the ASC's contract with the payer. If one payer did not previously authorize certain procedures in the ASC setting under contract, and they merge with a payer that does authorizes such procedures, the mega-merger can provide access to a new volume of cases "Mergers may create an opportunity to provide more services," says Ms. Kehayes. "e payer merger may result in the expansion of the ASC list of approved CPT Codes that could include services such as total joint or spine surgery." n 5 Statistics on Physician Compensation By Megan Wood S ullivan, Cotter and Associates, a human resources and com- pensation consulting firm in healthcare, released results from its annual Physician Compensation and Productivity Survey. e survey looked at physician compensation practices and trends from 560 organizations and 115,000 individual physicians and prac- tice clinicians. Here are five statistics: 1. More than half of the organizations use quality measures in their physician compensation models, which is a 13 percent increase compared to the past two years. 2. Staff physicians received an average of $18,500 in quality in- centives, which was 6 percent of their total cash compensation. 3. e survey revealed the continuing trend toward health system and large medical group employment of physicians. 4. About three-quarters of those surveyed said they increased their employed physician workforce in the past year. 5. e overall median increase in total cash compensation for all specialties was 1.8 percent. "In the wake of declining reimbursements and a constantly changing healthcare industry, physicians are seeking greater job security and stability," said Tim Strok, team leader, Physician Compensation Sur- veys at SullivanCotter. "We continue to see an increase in the number of physicians employed directly by hospitals and health systems." n