COSTFLEX NEWS: APRIL 2020
Riverfront in Mobile, Alabama

COVID-19 DSS REPORTING
With most patients cancelling elective surgery cases and other virus pandemic associated financial stresses hitting home, hospital bottom lines are taking a hit by COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus). As of April 1st, CPT codes to identify COVID-19 cases are U0001 and U0002 and can be used to report / analyze cases from February 4, 2020 forward (other codes may be available soon). Your CostFlex Staff is here to help!
 
CostFlex Support can assist your team’s efforts in analyzing organization financial trends and COVID impact.
 
CostFlex will be sending out a reporting assistance letter this week to include sample reporting suggestions for your internal auditing and analysis. If any client needs assistance identifying the COVID-19 cases or effective CostFlex reporting, please contact CostFlex Support. Below are articles that we have found with helpful information.

Becker's Hospital Review Article
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/billing-and-coding-for-coronavirus-7-things-to-know.html

CDC Coding Guidance
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd/ICD-10-CM-Official-Coding-Gudance-Interim-Advice-coronavirus-feb-20-2020.pdf

COSTFLEX BENCHMARKING
After extensive research and development hours, CostFlex is in the final stages of releasing our “Cost-Based Benchmarking” application. By using side by side comparisons of 30+ hospital organizations at once, the application will shed light to where a hospital's costs compare to their peers.
 
CostFlex had been anticipating a showcase for this application at the 2020 User Group Conference in Florida, but since it was cancelled due to COVID-19, we are presenting the application through a client wide Webinar on Friday, April 24, 2020 at 2pm CDT.
 
All hospitals in the benchmark will be using the CostFlex tools so the data sets will be uniform with “real costs and the same methodologies” and will not rely on the Medicare RCC approach used by other generic data benchmark tools available.
 
For client hospitals to see their costs and product lines compared, each hospital will have to agree to participate in the effort and submit data. CostFlex Support representatives will assist with pulling Hospital data from their CostFlex databases and all patient data will be masked for privacy.
 
All current clients interested in participating, please contact CostFlex for a demonstration of the application and assistance in data submission.

CONSULTING SERVICES - What can CostFlex do to help?
During this unique time of uncertainty, CostFlex Staff is currently setup to work remotely and available to help your staff with reporting needs.

CostFlex is offering the following services to current CostFlex clients:

Consulting services (up to 4 hours free per client) for analysis / reporting needs.
CostFlex can help run analysis on COVID-19 cases, quantify loss of revenue, run monthly costs or validate data as well as model payer contracts changes such as Medicare.

CostFlex can run system if short on staff (fee for consulting services).
Currently, CostFlex runs cost systems for a several clients. In order to take advantage of this service, CostFlex would need a remote access connection to the CostFlex database as well as the current month's source files.

Contact CostFlex for more information.

WEBINARS
Unfortunately, the 2020 CostFlex User Group Conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19. CostFlex is offering the Conference Sessions FREE to current clients.

The CostFlex product development team makes hundreds of useful enhancements to the Total Cost Accounting product suite each year. The enhancements are documented, provided to the attending clients, and reviewed together in this ses­sion to answer any questions and provide demonstrations of the current product updates.

The webinars will be one hour in length starting April 20, 2020 at 2pm CDT for five days. April Webinar series will be available at no charge for all current clients and organizations scheduling to install CostFlex in 2020.

If you are not a current client and would like to attend the sessions, please contact CostFlex for pricing information.
COST ACCOUNTING
The CostFlex Monthly Procedure Level Cost Accounting module will be explored to include understanding 2020 updates, learning hospital cost accounting techniques and expert costing tips.

Monday, April 2O, 2020
2pm CDT
PATIENT / PRODUCT REPORTING
For finance veterans and new cost accountants alike, this webinar will be a mix of education for patient and product line reporting as well as providing a look at the new 2020 reports and features.


Tuesday, April 21, 2020
2pm CDT
REVENUE CYCLE
The need to model and understand payor contracts cannot be ignored. This webinar will include demonstrating the latest in contract automation methods/macros, reimbursement projection, reporting and the various data feeds that are required.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020
2PM CDT
ENTERPRISE REPORTING
The CostFlex Enterprise SQL database and reporting tools are powerful and designed with UX (User Experience) in mind. Whether you already have the SQL installed or preparing for the implementation, this webinar will cover the available data and reporting.

Thursday, April 23, 2020
2pm CDT
BENCHMARKING
After receiving unanimous support from our client base to develop a true Cost-Based Benchmarking tool, CostFlex is happy to announce the release of the Benchmarking suite scheduled for May 2020. The webinar will focus on demonstrating the live tool and its capabilities for reporting. CostFlex Support has been contacting all client sites to assist with pulling the needed CostFlex data to participate in the initial reporting release – the good news?...it’s free for calendar year 2020 for all active client sites! A ‘not to be missed’ webinar for this exciting release!


Friday, April 24, 2020
2pm CDT
(800) 398-5753