In this episode, Victoria Hernandez, Senior Coding Analyst at BESLER, provides us with a glimpse into BESLER’s next Hospital Finance Academy Webinar, Understanding New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) – Its Role and Significance in Hospital Reimbursement, presented live on Wed. April 30, 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 our audience can expect from this webinar
- Coding and process of applying for the add-on payment
- Technologies/Medical services that are challenging to code
- One-stop shop resource available
Kelly Wisness: Hi, this is Kelly Wisness. Welcome back to the award-winning Hospital Finance Podcast. We’re pleased to welcome back Victoria Hernandez, Senior Coding Analyst at BESLER. In this episode, Victoria will provide us with a glimpse into BESLER’s next, the Hospital Finance Academy Webinar, which is Understanding New Technology Add-on Payment, or NTAP, Its Role and Significance in Hospital Reimbursement that we’re presenting live on Wednesday, April 30th, at 1 PM Eastern Time. Welcome back and thank you for joining us, Victoria.
Victoria Hernandez: Thank you, Kelly. It’s always a pleasure to be here.
Kelly: Always a pleasure to have you. So, let’s go ahead and jump in. So, I see that you’re covering a pretty good topic, NTAP. And I do recall you introducing NTAP on one of your webinars a few months ago, and it appears that a lot of information has come out since then and some updates. So can you share some information on what our audience can expect from this webinar?
Victoria: You have good recollection, Kelly, and you are correct. The last time I covered NTAP was when we presented coding updates for the Inpatient Prospective Payment System, the IPPS, and that was for fiscal year 2025, which we’re on right now. So, any changes involving NTAP, whether it’s deleting something, adding, or even just revising, those are usually included when we’re presented with the IPPS Final Rule, and that’s every year. So, as a matter of fact, the IPPS proposed rule for the upcoming year, fiscal year 2026, that will be published for all on April 30th, which happens to be the same day of this webinar. And next, what can our audience expect from this upcoming webinar? Well, we definitely have a packed agenda. So, it’s a true deep dive into the whole world of new medical services and technologies. So, lots to cover. First, we’ll grasp a better understanding of what NTAP is basically all about. So sure, some basics first, from the background, the purpose, to how NTAP reimbursement works. So, there are certain and specific factors considered, and of course, that criteria requirement when one applies for the add-on payment. So, we’ll definitely be reviewing the application process as well. So right now, our current NTAP list is for this current fiscal year, 2025. So, we’ll be providing more detail on the various devices and technologies from our current approved NTAP technology list. So, let’s get to know and learn what they are, how do they exactly work, and what the purpose is, like how do they play a part in the procedure? And also thought it would be helpful to look into the coding piece.
So, our actual ICD-10 PCS codes. So what code assignments, for example, are applicable to the latest new medical devices and technology? So, what would that look like? So, like I mentioned, there will be a lot to cover.
Kelly: Sounds like it’s going to be a packed webinar. You mentioned that the IPPS proposed rule for fiscal year 2026 is going to be published the day we’re presenting this webinar. And you mentioned a few different categories you’ll be covering. And there are two that kind of caught my attention. So, the coding and the process of applying for the add-on payment. Can you elaborate on what our audience should expect from these two topics?
Victoria: Yes, of course. So, starting with the coding aspect, yes, it is of utmost importance to make sure that the PCS procedure code reported, that it is definitely at the highest level of specificity. So even if one character is off out of the seven characters on a PCS code, right? So the NTAP payment may really be impacted or denied just altogether. So, this may have that negative impact on not just the payment, the statistics, the treatment, the picture that we’re trying to paint, and the insurance coverage. Also, there’s compliance, the compliance piece, and on top of the reimbursement as well. So, when reporting the NTAP approved procedures, I do encourage everyone to please get yourself familiarized with the latest NTAP list, and it’s out there shared with the public, especially with our government websites. So, it’s not unusual for devices or substances to be referred to in various terms or names. For example, they may be referenced by different brand names, or some stick to just generic names, or some just refer to them as that specific device part, for example, or that substance. So all of that, it may just take one incorrect character from that whole ICD-10 PCS code to be denied. So definitely important to be proactive and just avoid these common errors. Now, you also mentioned the process of applying for add-on payments. Yes, we will definitely be going over those requirements. What exactly is needed? And what are the steps? So, are there also any due dates or deadlines that we need to be aware of? So, every organization should definitely have that current fiscal year’s list of those key dates on when to apply and any timelines for add-on payments.
So, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, so CMS…they follow a specific timeline every year, and they publish it for everyone. And this information may be found in their website at cms.gov.
Kelly: Wow, thank you for all of that, Victoria. So, it sounds pretty important to remember key dates and timelines when applying for add-on payment. Now, on the coding piece, I can imagine the expansion in coding since there are updates every year on NTAP. Are there any specific technologies or new medical services that are challenging to code?
Victoria: Oh, good question. Actually, yes, I would say there are. Besides, of course, what we just covered with the different– the brand names and the generic names or just referring to it as that device per se, I would say that the PCS part of the root operation, that tends to be a challenging area for coding professionals. So understandably, especially in the beginning, and I just know that auditors have identified root operation errors, so it might not be identified or recognized at first if the root operation, let’s say, is an introduction or administration, insertion, or something else, another route operation. So, it’s understandably challenging at first when these new technologies, devices, substances, when they’re announced to the public for that given year. And of course, it’s new for everybody. But again, that’s why I encourage everyone to take full advantage of all the free tools available to us. So, we have these easy-to-use tools, these little lists, and references available out there. So yes, let’s together find ways on preventing these errors.
Kelly: This information is good to know, especially with the impact on revenue cycle for many organizations. Considering there’s a wealth of information to tackle here, is there a one-stop shop resource available for our audience?
Victoria: Another good question. I would definitely recommend starting off with the cms.gov website. Now, there you’ll find a whole section dedicated to NTAP, and definitely for sure frontline information right there. So, of course, there’s a lot of other resources available for healthcare professionals. There are reference sheets, tip sheets, links, case studies. There’s even a lot of publications, like all these books published by various vendors, specifically covering new technology add-on payments. But I would encourage our audience to research the different publications out there most related to your organization or your patient class, your settings, what the focus are, what your common procedures are. But yeah, good place to start will be cms.gov.
Kelly: Great, that sounds helpful. And I want to share with our audience that we’ll be sharing the references and resources that Victoria mentioned, so attendees can access those. So, Victoria, is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
Victoria: Yes, Kelly, as always, I would like to extend this invitation to all our listeners to attend our upcoming webinar on Understanding New Technology Add-on Payment, and that will be live on April 30th. And everyone, as Kelly just mentioned, we will be sharing some resources and references related to NTAP. And also another added plus is that BESLER will always provide CEUs for our attendees. So, I do hope everyone can tune in.
Kelly: Yeah, well, you covered a lot of what I was going to go and cover, Victoria. So, thank you for going over all that with us. So, thank you for joining us, for sharing this sneak peek. Again, it’s going to be Understanding NTAP: Its Role and Significance in Hospital Reimbursement, presented live by Victoria on April 30th, at 1 PM Eastern time. And as Victoria mentioned, you can earn CEU. Thanks again, Victoria.
Victoria: Thank you, Kelly.
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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