RHC Cost Reporting - What to do Now

November 14, 2023

And just like that 2023 is almost over. Time to close out 2023 and look forward to 2024. Closing out 2023 means reviewing your clinic's financial situation from an operations, tax, and cost reporting viewpoint. Cost Reporting has a much larger impact on RHC finances in recent years due to the passing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 that placed cost caps on all rural health clinics and increased the cost caps dramatically for independent RHCs allowing them to recoup a much higher percentage of their actual costs than in the past on Medicare patients. The increased caps are a tremendous win and reward for independent RHCs, but they come with risks as well. There could be large paybacks to Medicare if the clinic's cost per visit fall dramatically due to increased visits or reduced expenses per visit. Adequate compensation must be paid to owners and providers to keep the cost per visit at the higher levels and unexpected issues such as billing slowdowns could recreate a downward spiral for RHCs.

With that in mind, HBS is having a webinar on November 14, 2023 at 1:00 Eastern and 12:00 Noon Central time called RHC Cost Reporting - What to do before Year-End. This one hour webinar will go over important year-end Rural Health Clinic cost reporting deadlines, how to ensure you optimize your reimbursement in an environment of increased Medicare caps for Independent or Freestanding RHCs. We will discuss the importance of writing off Medicare bad debts on or before 12/31/2023 in order to file them on the Medicare Cost Report. To register for the webinar:

Please register for RHC Cost Reporting - What to do before Year-End on Nov 14, 2023 1:00 PM EST at:

Click here to register for the webinar

Additional RHC Cost Reporting Resources

You can find resources we developed and an RHC Cost Report Plan and Todo List that will help you to understand what you need to know to file a timely, accurate, and optimized cost report.

• RHC Medicare Cost Report Plan for 2024 in PDF format
• RHC Medicare Cost Report Plan for 2024 in Word format (editable)
• RHC Medicare Todo List for 2024 in PDF format
• RHC Medicare Todo List for 2024 in Word format
• Updated RHC Medicare Cost Reporting Instructions from CMS (July, 2022)
• HBS RHC Cost Report Client Electronic File to enter data for 12 31 2023 cost reports (Excel)

Agreements will be going out soon for 2023 cost reports, so watch your email for the Cost Report agreement and the HIPAA Business Associate agreement. If you need a Medicare or Medicaid Cost Report completed, please let us know and we will be happy to quote a price for the preparation of the cost report, program evaluation, emergency preparedness, RHC conversion, or Tenncare quarterly reporting.

New to RHC - For New RHCs or Clinics considering

becoming an RHC

In this webinar, Mark Lynn, CPA and Dani Gilbert, CPA will go over the steps to become a rural health clinic and whether or not it is advisable to become a rural health clinic. We will go over provider-based and Independent RHCs and timeframes to become a rural health clinic.

Please register for New to RHC - For New RHCs or Clinics considering becoming an RHC on Nov 28, 2023 1:00 PM EST at:

Click here to register for the New to RHC webinar

RHC Billing – How to find billing information for RHCs and basic principles of RHC Billing

In this webinar Mark Lynn from Healthcare Business Specialists will provide new RHCs the building blocks to begin billing as a rural health clinic. This webinar is designed for clinics new to the RHC program and have not billed as an RHC previously. The webinar will have an RHC Billing Pre-test, direct RHCs to billing resources, explain how to charge for services and to collect the correct co-pay and deductible amounts, issues with NPI numbers, commonly used acronyms, when to obtain a Medicare Secondary Payor questionnaire, and when to complete the 838 Credit Balance Report.

Please register for RHC Billing – How to find billing information for RHCs and basic principles of RHC Billing on Nov 30, 2023 1:00 PM EST at:

Click here to register for the RHC Billing webinar

RHC BILLING 101 – THE BASICS OF MEDICARE BILLING FOR INDEPENDENT AND PROVIDER-BASED RHCS WITH AMANDA DENNISON, MBA, CPC, CRHCP

Amanda Dennison, MBA, CPC, CRHCP, Senior Consultant from Blue & Co. will go over billing basics for RHCs including claim forms, incident to, definition of a visit, bill types, revenue codes, Medicare Advantage billing, and ancillary services. Medicaid billing will not be covered in this or any of the sessions. This session is sponsored by Blue & Co.



Please register for RHC Billing 101 – The Basics of Medicare billing for independent and provider-based RHCs with Amanda Dennison, MBA, CPC, CRHCP on Dec 5, 2023 1:00 PM EST at: 

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3018262107910897494

RHC BILLING 201 LUNCH AND LEARN WITH PATTY HARPER RHIA,  CHC, PRINCIPAL, INQUISEEK CONSULTING

In RHC Billing 201 Patty Harper, RHIA, CHC, Principal with InQuiseek Consulting will pick up where RHC 101 left off with more basics of RHC billing including billing examples, negative reimbursement, deductibles, coinsurance, chronic care management, telehealth billing, incident to billing, modifiers, condition codes, occurrence codes, Medicare secondary billing, etc. Sponsored by InQuiseek Consulting.

 Please register for RHC Billing 201 Lunch and Learn with Patty Harper RHIA, CHC, Principal, InQuiseek Consulting on Dec 7, 2023 1:00 PM EST at:

 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7385582766596485212

RHC BILLING 301 – ADVANCED SUBJECTS - CHARLES JAMES, JR., NORTH AMERICAN HMS

In this webinar Charles James from North American Healthcare Management Services will go over some advanced topics with billing examples, preventive services, mental health services, Telehealth, Chronic Care Management, etc. Sponsored by North American Healthcare Management Services. 

Please register for RHC Billing 301 – Advanced Subjects - Charles James, Jr., North American HMS on Dec 12, 2023 1:00 PM EST at:

 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6827726850548732761

Join our Facebook Group with 4,600 RHCs: 



https://www.facebook.com/groups/1503414633296362/

Ask questions. Stay informed about RHC information, webinars, events, etc. Do you have an event or webinar that benefits the Rural Health Clinic community? The Group is a great place to post this information. The Facebook Group is closely monitored and spam or unrelated content is not approved before posting and the group is for the residents of the United States as it focuses on Rural Health Clinics as established under PL-95210 and compliance, administrative, cost reporting, and billing information for Rural Health Clinics.

Here is an example of the kind of questions and responses you can find on the Rural Health Clinic Information Exchange Facebook Group

Register now for free technical assistance webinars in December, 2023 from the NARHC!

CMS Final Rules Overview - Impact for RHCs Beginning January 1, 2024    REGISTER NOW! 

• Monday, December 11, 2023  2 PM Eastern

Cybersecurity Lockdown    REGISTER NOW! 

• Wednesday, December 6, 2023  2 PM Eastern

Recording and slides for RHC Emergency Preparedness 101    

Recorded on Tuesday, November 7, 2023  

• Webinar Recording including transcript 
• Slide Presentation (PDF)

Join NARHC DC Staff for Virtual Office Hours!

NARHC DC Staff will host RHC Office Hours at 1 pm ET every other Wednesday via Zoom. We encourage anyone with RHC questions to join us! We hope that this form of technical assistance will increase the dialogue between NARHC staff and the RHC community. Questions regarding HRSA COVID-19 programs, RHC policy, Medicare, RHC certification, and more are all acceptable! Stop by the Zoom room anytime between 1 and 2 PM ET, and as always don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance outside of this time.

The schedule for 2023 is as follows:

Wednesday, November 15

Wednesday, November 29

Wednesday, December 13

Wednesday, December 27

No registration is required, and RHCs can join using the below link or call-in information.

Zoom Webinar Information:

https://us06web.zoom.us/s/81747173194

Audio Conference Details:

Attendees without computer access or computer audio can use the dial-in information below:

Dial-in Toll-Free #: +1 301-715-8592 PIN: 817 4717 3194#

Meeting ID: 817 4717 319