ACE Alert- Is Help on the Way for Your Medical Practice?

The details of the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF) are just now being released.  While writing this, the bill has not been passed through both houses, there will be another round of stimulus money available and this bill puts the health care community at the top of the list.  But will it really help? 

Estimated at a price tag of $127 Billion (yes, Billion), the details on how this will be administered and what will be necessary information for applying are still being discussed.  The devil is in the details, but it does look like entities that do not provide diagnosis, testing, or care to individuals that involve COVID-19 may be excluded from funding.  For anesthesia and pain groups this means that diagnosis coding does matter.

Be sure that if you are seeing a patient that has tested positive and your care involves precautions that must be taken during the active state of the disease, that you append ICD-10 U07.1.  This will enable you to support claims data of treating COVID-19 cases.

Unfortunately, while the bill does state that there would be money for loss of elective cases, none of those details have been disclosed.  It would be wise for an anesthesia representative to volunteer to be on the PHSSEF committee/task force that I would assume facilities will be setting up.  Groups should begin working with their facilities on estimating lost revenue on cancelled elective surgical procedures and if they spent any additional dollars on training staff to help in other areas of the hospital, those costs will be important as well.

Stay well.  If we can help you in any way, please feel free to contact us via e-mail.

Devona