Revenue Cycle, including
Compliance / Research / Hot Topics / Healthcare Audit 101 / Fraud / Audit Leadership / General Finance ( incl construction) / Information Technology
Using Technology to Audit Revenue Cycle
Ways to incorporate:
- Continuous auditing
- Continuous monitoring
- Data mining
Sharing of actual tools if possible (not just theory) / Not sure we need or can fill an entire track on Research / Auditing Quality of Care Initiatives
Compliance implications
Public reporting of data: Understanding where it is being reported from and to whom it is being reported
Internal controls to support quality of care initiatives / Audit Project Management
Skills to improve effectiveness and efficiency / Using Data Analysis to Detect Fraud presentation recently given at AHIA Southeast Regional Seminar by Sally Wilson-Smith may be appropriate for national conference also. / Effective Communication to the Audit Committee
- Ways to engage the audit committee
- Overall best practices around governance
When the CEO Talks, We Listen. September 2009 New Perspectives article by Renee Jaenicke would make a good session. / Data Mining and Continuous Auditing
- Supporting overall audit lifecycle (risk assessment, planning, fieldwork, reporting, audit follow-up)
- Fraud prevention and detection
RACs and MICs
- Current state
- How successful organizations have been in the appeals process
- Lessons learned that other organizations can use
- Current state the time of conference
- Internal Audit’s role
- Evaluation of control systems
- Designing cost-effective control systems to minimize risks for various business processes
What should we be looking for, how can we detect it / Sally F. Cutler regularly writes articles for New Perspectives on audit report writing. This would be a good topic for a presentation. Her latest article also said that her book “Audit CommitteeReporting: A Guide for Internal Audit” will be published in 2009 so that might be a good presentation also. / Cash balancing – Is the A/R balancing/posting in your organization auditable? Are you able to trace payments from the lockbox to the patient account to the appropriate checking account and tax ID? How is unapplied cash addressed and monitored for resolution? / Reed D. Gelzer has written several articles for New Perspectives on EHR systems and their risks and challenges that they can present.
Need a separate category for Compliance and Legal / Regulatory topics (distinct from Revenue Cycle since very different) / Legal aspects of research – why do we need to care about research?
(Might have a speaker that would be available). / Business Continuity Planning
- What should Internal Audit look for?
- Examples of audit approaches
- New and emerging issues
- How can Internal Audit add value?
- Calculating a true return on investment
Consulting Skills for Internal Auditors. September 2009 New Perspectives article by John J. Hall would make a good presentation. / Corporate supply chain audits – where to begin and how to keep the audit manageable. / IT Governance Assessment presentation recently given at AHIA Southeast Regional Seminar by Raj Mehta may be appropriate for national conference.
AHIA Potential Annual Conference Tracks
Revenue Cycle, including
Compliance / Research / Hot Topics / Healthcare Audit 101 / Fraud / Audit Leadership / General Finance ( incl construction) / Information Technology
Stay off the RAC: A Risk Assessment Mitigation Approach to RAC Audits. June 2009 New Perspectives article by Ken Owens could make a good session. / How do you audit your organization’s research operation? / Marianne M. Jennings writes regular articles in New Perspectives on Ethics at Work that are always very interesting. It would be great to get her for a general session on this topic. / Audit Planning
- Approaches to ensure adequate input from auditee
- Conducting research
- Fraud scenarios in general areas (i.e. A/R, Cash and Treasury, Material Management, Payroll, etc.)
- Using data Analysis to detect fraud activities (i.e. trend, or proportional)
- Best practices
- How to audit
- Travel cards
New Compliance Risks: New Home Health Prospective Payment System. February 2009 New Perspectives article by Joan Taylor could make a good session. / Industry Sponsored Research
- Process through the Institutional Review Board
- How does it differ from federal grants
- How to account for award and expenses
How to write effectively
- Executive Summaries
- Issues and recommendations
- WP structure
Gifts Rules in the Healthcare Sector: A Candid Conversation. November 2008 New Perspectives article by Andrew Leven could make a good presentation. / Choose various specific audits conducted by practicing auditors and have them present their audit or investigation describing the testing used, techniques, findings and improvements that resulted. Practical audit examples by those that have done them, not just theory or consultants. / This topic is good for a pre-conference session, but I am not sure this requires a full track of sessions. Last year’s pre-conference session on this was not as advertised based on the conference evaluation. / Chief Audit Executive panel or roundtable discussion. Discuss their perspectives on common audit topics, risk assessments, audit reports, work plans, etc. Have attendees submit questions during session that panel addresses. This could even be a general session / Disaster Recovery
- Best practices
- How the non-technical auditor can audit it
AHIA Potential Annual Conference Tracks
Revenue Cycle, including
Compliance / Research / Hot Topics / Healthcare Audit 101 / Fraud / Audit Leadership / General Finance ( incl construction) / Information Technology
Kelly Nueske is presenting How to Do It! Risk Assessment to a Compliance Internal Audit Workplan at HCCA 2010 Compliance Institute and may be appropriate for our conference also. / Have a general session that is specific and relevant to the industry and internal audit function overall. Someone who could represent and discuss the profession of internal audit in health care, future challenges and opportunities. / WPs and Reports
How to write effectively ---
- Executive Summaries
- Issues and recommendations
- WP structure
- Best practices
- How the non-technical auditor can audit it
Karen Murray is presenting The Investigative Lights Shine Big and Bright: Perspectives on Best Practices for Internally Initiated Compliance Investigations at HCCA 2010 Compliance Institute and may be appropriate for our conference also. / Using the methodology of Lean Six Sigma inside audit projects for measuring opportunity to add value / WPs and Reports
How to write effectively ---
- Executive Summaries
- Issues and recommendations
- WP structure
- C7 from 2009 conference done by Chase Whitaker
Physician contracting, Stark law and Anti-kickback law. Background of risks and how to audit. / The future/politics of healthcare – what was implemented and where we think the political climate is headed / Healthcare 101 – new to healthcare – where do you begin – how does a system “make money” / Performance Appraisals – how to make them meaningful
Baltimore is the home of CMS so we should have a CMS speaker discussing their areas of focus for audits and/or RAC overview and what internal auditors can audit to help their hospitals prepare. / Healthcare Reform (attended a session provided by E&Y – very informative) – how it will affect providers / Healthcare Jargon – could someone provide a “glossary” of most used terms? / Recruitment
- How to recruit and retain
AHIA Potential Annual Conference Tracks
Revenue Cycle, including
Compliance / Research / Hot Topics / Healthcare Audit 101 / Fraud / Audit Leadership / General Finance ( incl construction) / Information Technology
More sessions on topics that are relevant to auditors that work in other settings besides hospitals. For example, more sessions on home health, rehabilitation facilities, surgery centers and skilled nursing. Review their regulatory requirements and how to audit them. / Physician Contracting – what you need to know before you embark on an physician contracting audit (STARK, anti-kickback, private inurement, independent contractor vs. employee physician relationship / Overview
- High level overview of the industry, hospital, and physician practices operations
Charge Capture
Focus on a particular department
How to use CAATs effectively / Ethics – how do you audit an organization’s ethical climate (successfully)? / Sampling
- When to use sampling
- Sampling methods – statistical vs. non-statistical
- Sample size determinations
Registration Process – performed from an integrated audit perspective / Continuous monitoring – how do you do this in healthcare – any success stories?
Full revenue cycle audits of a clinical area – from beginning to end – what are the benefits and downsides to completing an audit this way / COSO & ERM - recently attended a conference where Dr. Larry Rittenberg spoke – he is one of the “fathers of COSO” – very interesting
Cash Collections
- Best practice techniques for the collection at POS
- Financial/Ops Topic
AHIA Potential Annual Conference Tracks
Revenue Cycle, including
Compliance / Research / Hot Topics / Healthcare Audit 101 / Fraud / Audit Leadership / General Finance ( incl construction) / Information Technology
ICD-10
- What is it?
- What does it mean for documentation?
- How should we be preparing for it?
- Mapping from ICD-9 to ICD-10
- New specialty-specific codes
- Compliance topic
Denials and Credit Balances
- How to minimize denials and credit balances.
- Fin/Ops topic
- Panel discussion of what audits have brought in the money
RAC
- How organizations are coping in the transition to permanent program
- Internal Controls
- Charging and crediting
Provider Based Billing
- Definitions
- Examples
- Charge Capture
- What are the rules?
- How to operationalize.
- Best practices to ensure the hospital is taking advantage of the program.
Chargemaster
- How to audit
- How equipment is tracked and maintained.
- Focus is on warranty, recalls, maintenance.
- Could be part of the discussion of value-added audits.
AHIA Potential Annual Conference Tracks
Revenue Cycle, including
Compliance / Research / Hot Topics / Healthcare Audit 101 / Fraud / Audit Leadership / General Finance ( incl construction) / Information Technology
Medical Records
- Security over paper records
- Security over electronic records
- Medicare and Medicaid provider incentives and penalties
- Definition of “meaningful use”
- Quality measures used to report
- How to audit