RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 7, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medical practices may be able to secure new revenue while they improve outcomes for patients with diabetes by using Health-e-Connect, the remote diabetes care management system from ALR Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: ALRT).
An analysis from Avalere Health LLC, commissioned by ALRT, follows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) establishment of a new reimbursement code for non-face-to-face chronic care management (CCM) with a payment rate of $42.60 per patient per month. This new payment is available to providers as of January 1, 2015, but only if they meet CMS' extensive and complex requirements, according to Avalere. The ALRT system is designed to enable medical practices to meet these requirements while helping improve outcomes for patients with diabetes.
For patients with diabetes and at least one additional chronic condition, the ALRT system may assist the provider in fulfilling the following requirements for reimbursement under the new HCPCS code 99490:
- Billing – All or part of the required 20 minutes of care coordination may be performed by clinical staff, including staff at ALRT reviewing data for patients monitored by the ALRT system, as long as they meet Medicare's "incident to" requirements under §410.26.
- Accounting for Time – The ALRT system can account for all time spent toward the required 20 minutes per month.
- Plan of Care – The ALRT system is easily integrated into patient care plans and can facilitate protocols for monitoring, communicating, and educating patients.
- Electronic Health Records – The ALRT system allows access to EHRs for the entire care team.
- Patient Consent – The ALRT system integrates patient consent.
- Patient Characteristics – Diabetes meets the criteria of a chronic condition for these services.
- "The requirements for billing CCM services are extensive, complex and potentially burdensome on (care) providers," the Avalere memo states. "Moreover, it is not certain that merely billing for CCM services will improve patient outcomes for some physician practices." Avalere concludes, "ALRT's Diabetes Management Program may be a helpful addition to a provider practice in meeting some billing requirements for CCM services for patients with two or more chronic conditions."
"We are very confident that our Health-e-Connect remote diabetes monitoring system is the seamless solution for medical practices that want to draw down the reimbursement under code 99490 without building additional infrastructure," said Bill Smith, president of ALR Technologies. "But just as important, you're not simply shuffling papers to get a payment. Health-e-Connect can save a physician's time, increase patient adherence and improve outcomes, HEDIS scores, and pay for performance compensation."
Interested parties may contact phil.murphy@alrt.com to learn more about the Avalere memo.
About ALR Technologies Inc.
ALR Technologies is a medical device company providing remote monitoring and care facilitation for patients with chronic diseases. ALRT has developed the FDA-cleared and HIPAA compliant Health-e-Connect System that collects data from blood glucose meters and uploads to a secure website. Trained Facilitators use the System to effect efficiency of care among patients, clinicians and caregivers to improve outcomes and assist health plans to optimize their quality goals. Currently, the Company is focused on diabetes and will expand its services to cover other chronic diseases anchored on verifiable data. More information about ALR Technologies, Inc. can be found at www.alrt.com.
This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to ALR Technologies' business, and these statements reflect the current views of ALR Technologies with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. When used, the words "estimate", "expect", "anticipate", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. There are many factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of ALR Technologies and its products to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Further management discussions of risks and uncertainties can be found in the Company's quarterly filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.
Remote Chronic Care Monitoring Fact Sheet
CMS's Decision to Reimburse Physicians for Chronic Care Management
Beginning January 1, CMS will reimburse care providers Chronic Care Management (CCM) under the new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System entry 99490. CCM reimbursement is only permitted for patients with two serious chronic conditions.
Physicians will be paid $42.60 per patient per month when they themselves, their staff, or "affiliated" staff performed 20 minutes of CCM per month. CCM is defined specifically as activities that help manage chronic conditions in a "non-face-to-face" manner.
ALRT's New Diabetes Chronic Care Management Medicare Offering
ALR Technologies has developed a diabetes management program designed specifically to assist physicians and physician groups in accessing this new reimbursement and in improving the health of their diabetes patients. The new offering has the following elements:
- An FDA-cleared platform for remotely monitoring blood glucose data, the Health-e-Connect system.
- Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) who remotely monitor blood glucose trends and who then work with the patient's care team so clinicians can adjust the patient's care plan based upon the data.
- Trained clinical staff working behind-the-scenes to coordinate activities for patients that meet NCQA and ADA guidelines for diabetes care.
- An online tracking system to chronicle monthly per patient chronic care management in order to demonstrate 20 minutes of meaningful activity as required by the new reimbursement rule.