This past Friday at the Leon Valley Conference Center in San Antonio, Star Compliance Services and TDMR held our third healthcare compliance seminar, following our recent successful seminar in Houston and the earlier one held in February at Weslaco.
Gregory Ewing and Dr. Juan D. Villarreal were once again the presenters and provided attendees the benefits of their knowledge and personal experience in the area of healthcare compliance. Greg is a compliance expert and attorney with 17 years of healthcare experience and Dr. Villarreal has been one of the leaders in standing up for due process rights for Medicaid providers in Texas. Both are on the board of TDMR.
100% would recommend seminar to others
Both presentations were well-received by attendees who, as shown by the after-seminar surveys, appreciated not only the in depth presentations and their completeness but found the shared personal experiences very compelling and could see how this related to their particular healthcare practice. 100% of attendees surveyed said they would recommend the seminar to others. 57% of attendees rated the seminar as 10 out of 10 and 94% as 8 out of 10 or higher.
All attendees received access to online materials including all presentations and the Star Compliance Compliance Starter Kit, 120 pages of templates, checklists and information to get compliance in on a practice.
Personal experience with enforcement
Dr. Villarreal spoke about his four-year journey with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General after his practice was accused of “credible allegations of fraud” relating to orthodontic Medicaid billings. He had stood up and fought the allegations because he didn’t think he had done anything wrong and has received vindicating judgments from the State Office of Administrative Hearings, Travis County District Court and the Texas Court of Appeals. Along the way, through TDMR, he has brought to light severe problems with OIG’s conduct, leading to major legislative changes in OIG which are now law.
Comprehensive presentation on compliance
Greg Ewing went through a 237 slide comprehensive presentation covering in detail what providers need to know about the Affordable Care Act and its mandatory compliance program, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and its requirements, the Texas equivalent of HIPAA, HB 300, and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requirements.
The key message is that enforcement hasn’t even really started yet. But it will start reaching out to everyone, big and small, in the coming years as federal and state agencies become more organized. There is a tremendous incentive for government agencies to do so as their own statistics show that for every dollar spent on enforcement, they recover at least seven. Much of this money is not from fraud convictions but from settlements which arise from program violations and lack of precision in a provider’s records.
Comments from providers
Here are some comments:
“This is my first time exploring compliance and I was pleased to see how well the program is put together so that even someone like me who had no idea what this was all about was able to comprehend.”
“Lot of information I was not aware of. All my questions have been answered.”
“Good information put in a way that is easy to understand.”
“Found most helpful What steps you need to have in place for compliance. It was interesting hearing experiences others have had.”
“Pertinent info with people who have first hand knowledge!”
Last seminar coming up in Dallas, July 17
The next and last seminar will be held in Dallas on Friday, July 17 at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Dallas Plano/The Colony. For more information and to register online, go to starcomplianceservices.com or you can call BeLinda Dashiell at 888-988-1802 and get any questions answered.
