Support Corner

CHECK THE ORTIVUS WEBSITE TO MAINTAIN YOUR BILLING PROCESS IN TOP FORM
by Mark Simmonds, Technical Writer / Documentation

On a daily basis, Ortivus staff work with carriers and state agencies to maintain ECMs (electronic claim modules), paper forms, and run sheet modules to their required specifications for use with Sweet-Billing. In the month of August 2007 alone, requirements by carriers have resulted in changes and enhancements to the Commercial and Medicaid ECMs and to the Forms modules for Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Rhode Island. Because these changes occur frequently, Ortivus provides our customers with the Industry Service Pack Update, available from the support section on our website. To maintain up-to-date Sweet-Billing software modules Ortivus recommends visiting our website regularly for updates.

The Industry Service Pack (ISP) can be downloaded from our website at http://www.ortivusna.com by following these steps:

1. Within the Sweet-Billing program, select the Help pull-down menu and select About. In the bottom right-hand corner of the About window, note the dates of the Last Update and the Industry SP (if any).
2. Log into Support and click on the link for Ortivus North America Version Releases.
3. Scroll down and find the Industry Service Pack for your Sweet-Billing version.
4. Determine if you need the ISP:
   a. Click the Updates Available For Your State link to check whether changes have been made to your ECMs, Forms or Run Sheet since the Last Update and Industry SP dates; and/or
   b. Compare the date shown under the Additional File Information heading with the Last Update and Industry SP dates.
5. Click on the "Click Here to Download" link.
6. Run the ISP update only after all users have logged out of the Sweet-Billing program.
   

PATIENT AND CALL SIGNATURE SOURCES IN SWEET-BILLING
by Kelly Rothslisberger, Support Services

Recently, a few calls have come into Support Services regarding the different options within the signature sections of Sweet-Billing. Since Sweet-Billing has been around for about seven years now, it appears this is a perfect time for a refresher lesson.

First, the difference between recording a signature on the Patient screen or Call screen comes down to the issue of Lifetime Signatures. If your service specifically uses the wording for lifetime signatures, then that record should be stored on the Patient screen. If your service does not use Lifetime signatures, then it’s appropriate to enter each signature on the Call screen.

Now, let’s look at the options within the Call screen for recording the signature of the patient. The sources listed on the Patient screen are actually a sublist of the sources listed on the Call screen. These options can be found on the Billing tab in the center of the screen. The first field related to the signature is the check box for Default from Patient. This is only available for use if you have recorded a signature on the patient which we have already learned is regarded as a Lifetime signature. The next field is for the date of signature and a box that allows for a user to select All Payors. This button initiates a checkmark in the Medicare, Medicaid and Commercial payors boxes to the right. The All Payors box should only be selected if your signature statement covers each of the three payors listed. The Signature source options are as follows:

• Box 12 signed on the CMS 1500 Form (patient signs a 1500 form for the right of the service provider to bill Medicare, Medicaid or Insurance companies on behalf of the patient)
• Box 13 signed on the CMS 1500 Form (patient signs a 1500 form for the right of the service provider to receive payment from Medicare, Medicaid or Insurance companies for the services provided on behalf of the patient)
• Box 12 and 13 signed on the CMS 1500 Form (patient signs a 1500 form)
• Signed Sig. Auth form for Box 12
• Signed Sig. Auth form for Box 13
  
• Signed Sig. Auth form for Box 12 and 13
  
• Signature Generated by Provider- Patient not physically present

It’s the last option from this list that usually draws the most questions for Sweet users. Signature Generated by Provider - Patient not physically present is a piece of information needed by labs, when they require a lab sample, but never had physical contact with the patient. That answer is not appropriate for ambulance providers and suppliers. You may wonder why it’s included for Sweet-Billing. Sweet-Billing software is actually used for several different functions not just ambulance billing and the specifications state that these are the valid answers for the field (though not necessarily for all provider types), which is the list that Ortivus must offer.

If a provider does not obtain a signature from the patient, the provider should not bill Medicare, and has two options. The first is to bill the patient and the second is to attempt to gain the signature after the incident.

Landmark Naming in Sweet-CAD
by Konrad Kroszner, Applications Engineer

To assist in locating hospitals, nursing homes, and other common locations that are frequently dispatched, Sweet-CAD has the capability to create landmarks that are geo-located on the map.  These landmarks may be used during the dispatch and/or reservation process to quickly identify a pickup or drop off location, providing an address, and for matching up with the location codes in billing.The landmarks are identified in two ways, the Landmark Abbreviation, and the Landmark Description.

The Landmark Abbreviation must match the Location Code ID in Sweet-Billing exactly, but the Landmark Description may be anything to identify the landmark that makes it easy for the dispatcher to use. For instance, sometimes preceding the name of a facility with the initials is faster during the call entry process than having to type in the full name, as shown in example 1 below.The Landmark Description does not need to match the description in Sweet-Billing, only the ID and Abbreviation need to match.

The Landmark Description may be adjusted to either be more descriptive than what is in billing, or easier to enter, such as by using the initials before the name.  Using initials before the landmark name usually speeds up the geo-decoding process when entering the location in the call, as most initials are unique and won’t start geo-decoding as a street name.

Caution: When creating the landmark description, use caution when two or more landmarks have similar names, or may have one name embedded in another. For instance, General Hospital, and General Hospital Dialysis share the initial “General Hospital” name. The General Hospital is embedded in the General Hospital Dialysis, and may cause errors in the database lookup process. It is safer to add additional description to the embedded name, such as General Hospital Main, or General Hospital – Anytown, to make it a unique name. In examples 3 and 4 table below, “Fire Station 1” is embedded in Fire Station 10, so the correct identification in Sweet-CAD is as shown, “Fire Station 01”.  It could also be identified as FS01 – Fire Station 01.  Example 5 is incorrect, as it is embedded in example 6.  Changing it to example 7 would be recommended.

Here are some examples: