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2009 Coding and Compliance Seminars: Managing Your Reimbursement and Regulatory Risks

Featured Speakers: Helene Fearon, PT; Stephen M Levine, PT, DPT, MSHA, RP; Gayle Lee, JD

January 10, 2009: Chicago, IL
Registration Deadline: December 26, 2008

January 31, 2009: Seattle, WA
Registration Deadline: January 16, 2009

February 21, 2009: Atlanta, GA
Registration Deadline: February 6, 2009

March 7, 2009: Philadelphia, PA
Registration Deadline: February 20, 2009

Total Continuation Education Equivalent = 7 contact hours or 0.7 CEUs

Course Description:

APTA's Coding and Compliance Seminars are one-day seminars designed to educate the physical therapy professional about the best possible methods to deal with changing regulation in today's environment and how to apply these methods to everyday practice.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe current issues related to federal legislation, regulatory changes and updates.
• Understand the current legislative initiatives and regulatory environment that impact reimbursement.
• Understand the concepts of Fraud and Abuse as well as the risk areas for fraudulent or abusive behavior specific to rehabilitation.
• Identify the CPT codes most frequently used in reporting physical therapist practice and coding challenges.
• Eliminate questionable coding and documentation practices to facilitate processing of your claims.
• Identify resources available to facilitate accurate and effective coding and appropriate reimbursement in all practice settings.
• Apply clinical reasoning and documentation to support medical necessity of patient care.
• Understand the requirements of skilled care under Medicare and ensure you have the information to ensure compliance with these requirements.
• Implement documentation tips important in support of the use of codes to describe clinical practice.
• Learn about Audit Review Flags that can be identified on your claim forms or documentation which may lead to further audit or investigation.

Course Schedule:

Total Continuation Education Equivalent = 7 contact hours or 0.7 CEUs

NEW in 2009!

In addition to the one-day seminar, the cost of registration includes a 1.5 hour audio conference to be held in March 2009. This audio conference will include information to help participants apply practical applications of physical therapist practice to the daily operations in the outpatient environment. Additional details, including speakers and date of call, will be sent to all registrants of the one-day seminar. An additional 0.2 CEUs (2 contact hours) will be earned for participation in this call.

Hotel Accommodations:

Click here for updated hotel accommodation information.

Registration Fees:

Advanced Registration:

APTA Member or APTA Member Office Manager: $340
(must be registered by the APTA member)

Non-member: $550

Onsite:

APTA Member or APTA Member Office Manager: $390
(must be registered by the APTA member)

Non-member: $600

To Register:

Please refrain from making travel/hotel reservations until you have received registration confirmation from APTA.

There are four ways to register:

1. Online: Click here to use APTA's online registration form.

2. Call: 800/999-2782, ext 3395, 8:30 am-6:00 pm Eastern time, Monday-Friday. Please have your credit card information handy.

3. Mail: Your registration form with payment to APTA, Service Center, 1111 N Fairfax Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1488.

4. Fax: Your completed registration form with credit card information to 703/706-3396, 24 hours a day.

* In the event that APTA must make alterations to the course information we will attempt to notify you, however, please check back here prior to attending a course for the most up to date information!

Speaker Biographies (One-Day Seminar):

Helene Fearon, PT, co-owner of Fearon Physical Therapy and partner in the Rehabilitation Consulting & Resource Institute, Inc, has more than 30 years of experience as a physical therapist in varied settings. She has worked as a clinician and an administrator in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health, and outpatient clinics. Her current private practice focuses on work injury management and manual orthopedic physical therapy. She is a consultant and peer reviewer for multiple payers, both private and federal as well as for peer review organizations. Fearon served as president of the Arizona Physical Therapy Licensing Board for the State of Arizona from 1999 to March 2007. She is a recent past member of the American Medical Association's (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel. Fearon is currently APTA representative to the AMA's CPT HCPAC and a member of AMA CPT Assistant Publication Editorial Board.

Stephen M Levine, PT, DPT, MSHA, RP, is a partner in the Rehabilitation Consulting & Resource Institute, Inc, (RCRI), an independent consulting firm focusing on practice management, payment policy, payment strategies, and compliance issues in the outpatient rehabilitation setting. For over 16 years, Levine has been a consultant to physical therapy providers, local and national third-party payers, regulators, and case management agencies in the areas of CPT coding and relative values, RBRVS, cost containment, fraud and abuse, medical necessity and quality assurance issues, reimbursement strategies for physical therapy services, and physical therapy peer/utilization review. Additionally, he has worked extensively with federal investigative and law enforcement agencies in the areas of fraud, abuse, medical necessity, utilization management, and medical policy review. Prior to development of RCRI, he was involved in operation and ownership of a private practice in Maryland for 18 years. As the former national APTA appointee to the AMA's Health Care Professional's Advisory Committee of the Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), Levine is considered one of the foremost experts on Medicare policy and development and implementation of RBRVS under Medicare. From 1997 - 2008, he served on the APTA Board of Directors, 4 years as Vice Speaker and 6 years as Speaker of the House of Delegates.

Gayle Lee, JD, serves as the Director, Federal Payment Policy and Advocacy at the American Physical Therapy Association. As the department's Federal regulatory expert, Gayle's key areas of responsibility include Medicare, Medicaid, and CHAMPUS. She specifically works on regulations that impact physical therapists that practice in skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, rehabilitation hospitals/units, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities, rehabilitation agencies, and private practice settings. Gayle came to APTA from the American Rehabilitation Association, where she was Assistant Counsel and Policy Coordinator. She worked on issues that affected rehabilitation hospitals/units and CORFs. Gayle received her law degree at the Washington College of Law at the American University in Washington, DC and completed her undergraduate work at Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania.

[Last updated: 10/28/08 | Contact: advocacy@apta.org]