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Welcome to the SpendMend Blog! You’ll find tips & tricks, best practices, educational information and much more! Authored by SpendMend’s talented team and featured guests, new blogs are published often, so make sure to join our mailing list and share your favorites with your colleagues.
Memorial Day Remembrance
Memorial Day is the most poignant and bittersweet holidays in the United States. It’s the day dedicated to the fallen. Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us can enjoy the privilege and responsibility of freedom. Often seen as the official start of...
Happy AP Appreciation Week to AP Professionals Across the World!
Written By: Tom Flynn, VP of Marketing We wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Accounts Payable Association, their leader Jamie Radford and his superb team to thank them for hosting and promoting this year’s Accounts...
Referral Capture: Finding Additional Savings in Your 340B Program
Referral capture in the 340B world is not a new concept. What it requires is a Holmes and Watson investigative spirit, time, and most importantly…an eye focused to Compliance. In the 340B world, we live and die by the 340B patient definition. HRSA has given very...
The Typical Process of a Recovery Audit Firm
Written by: Kylee Savage, Marketing Manager Every firm offers a slightly different approach, but the general approach of most firms follows a similar pattern: Discovery —Each firm goes through an investigative or discovery phase in which the Recovery Audit firm will...
HIN What?
HIN What? Many of you have been following and evaluating your options as multiple manufacturers have restricted contract pharmacy pricing for CEs. You probably also received our email communication in February describing a few exception opportunities that exist for...
How is SpendMend Just Like the Easter Bunny?
Written By: Tom Flynn, VP of Marketing On Easter mornings when I was young, my parents used to hide plastic eggs all around the house with little surprises in them. Some eggs had chocolate candy inside. (I liked those) Some eggs had dental floss in them. (I didn’t...
Don’t Be Fooled… By Medical Device Non-Compliance!
Written By: Joe Heminger, Business Development Manager It’s April first and it’s hard enough to get through the day without some prankster trying to pull a fast on you. The last thing you want to do is fool yourself concerning medical device non-compliance, but in our...
How is SpendMend just like St. Patrick’s Day?
by Michael Koory, SpendMend, VP Sales - Mid-America Today marks St. Patty’s Day (a.k.a. the Feast of Saint Patrick) which is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated every year on 17th of March in Ireland and by Irish communities around the world. Over the...
ANALYSIS: COVID relief credits and COVID-related distractions clear the way for a 70% increase in transaction errors (and cashflow losses) at major U.S. Health Systems
Written By: Rob Heminger, President The Impact of COVID Relief Credits Last December I wrote an article about the impact of “COVID-19 Relief Credits” on healthcare. At the time, we were seeing that a significant percentage of healthcare suppliers were generating and...
340B and Fee-For-Service Medicaid AAC Requirements
A topic we have covered in our client newsletter in the past, but is long overdue for a full discussion is 340B actual acquisition cost (AAC) requirements for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicaid billing in many states. In 340B audits we perform for clients, we review the...
Top 4 IT Optimization Recommendations for 2021
Written by: Evan Katzman, OptiSave Demands on health systems’ Information Technology (IT) teams continue to grow exponentially. ERP and EMR implementations, integrations accompanying mergers and acquisitions, and securing an ever-expanding digital footprint are just a...
Recent HRSA Audit Trends: Supporting Documentation for Eligible Providers
Historically, HRSA auditors have requested a list of eligible providers from covered entities during HRSA audits. Recently, however, HRSA auditors have been requesting that covered entities upload documents demonstrating that, for each audited utilization record, the...
Observing Key 340B Program Savings Trends Based on Drug Spend
Written by: Jake Thompson, PharmD, MS, SpendMend VP of Pharmacy Services, Growth and Optimization Industry Observations In the past two years, my team and I have worked with over 50 distinct hospitals on drug spend optimization projects ranging in size from $300K up...
The Five Things You Need to Do To Prepare for an OIG Med Device Audit
Written By: Joe Heminger, SpendMend Marketing Manager The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in conjunction with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) have announced their intention to recoup over $1 Billion in improper payments. Your organization will...
Why I Left My Career as a Pharmacist to Become a Consultant and Help Other Hospitals
Written By: Jake Thompson, PharmD, MS, jthompson@spendmend.com Over the past 18+ years in pharmacy, I have constantly been changing roles within the sector. I have held pharmacy technician and intern roles in both retail and hospital settings. I have been a PGY1...
Don’t Miss Out On These Resources
The 340B Program is complicated. It’s intimidating, and let’s be honest, at times downright confusing, for newcomers and veterans alike. Those of us in the 340B world know that managing a successful 340B Program requires the juggling of what feels like a...
CMS Most Favored Nation Drug Payment Model – What You Need to Know
The end of 2020 is upon us, for better or worse, and the healthcare industry as a whole is envisioning a brighter 2021 ahead of us, especially with the availability of two new COVID-19 vaccines that could signal an end to the pandemic. But we want to make sure our...
COVID-19 Relief Credits May Be Disappearing Without Your Knowledge
Written by: Rob Heminger, President SpendMend partners with more than 100 healthcare systems spanning over 2700 hospitals across the U.S. In a given quarter, we receive several terabytes of client spend data comprising billions of dollars in transactions while at the...
Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General Released a New Report on Hospital Compliance for Reporting Cardiac Device Credits
Written by: Alan Brander, FACHE, abrander@spendmend.com As a follow up to previous audits of hospital compliance with Medicare requirements for reporting cardiac device credits between 2004 and 2016, the OIG conducted a new audit to assess if hospitals had shown...
Happy Thanksgiving From SpendMend
Written by: Dan Geelhoed, CEO and Rob Heminger, President 2020 has been an extremely challenging year for all of us and it can be difficult to find things to be thankful for with COVID-19 continuing to impact families and businesses. In light of these unprecedented...
Only Time Will Tell: Future Changes to the Affordable Care Act
By: Chelsea Violette, PharmD, BCPS, 340B ACE In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law, changing the approach to healthcare in the United States. These changes had far reaching impacts but for today, we’re going to focus on the implications the ACA...
The “Three C’s” of Financial Leakage in the Cost-Cycle
Written by: Kylee Savage Financial leakage in the cost-cycle occurs in every major organization across the globe. This is inevitable and no matter how many new systems you put in place, or how many vendors or consultants you engage to eliminate transaction errors,...
With OIG Waivers Lifted, Hospitals Face Steep Penalties at the Worst Time
On March 30, 2020, in reaction to the President’s declaration of a national health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) waived several CMS and OIG program requirements and their related audits. Several months later...
SpendMend Supports Bee Brave Fundraiser To Help Raise Funds For Breast Cancer Research!
Written By Hannah Geelhoed, Community Involvement Director Over the past several years we have been fortunate at SpendMend. Our business has grown and we have added many new and talented team members that share our work ethic and our values. Success is not something...
Working Together – Establishing a 340B Oversight Committee
With so much activity occurring in the 340B space in recent months, including HRSA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to 340B eligibility, hospital recertification, manufacturer developments around contact pharmacies, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead...
Fiscal Heroes to the Rescue — YOU Can Make a Difference
By: Tim Berkey We have all seen and heard countless examples of courage from front-line workers and other medical professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic. As our nation has experienced an unprecedented (in our era) medical challenge, we have found new respect for...
A Bird’s Eye View of the 340B Program
Written By: Rob Nahoopii, PharmD, MS, 340B ACE, Senior Vice President of Pharmacy Services The News Earlier this week, we announced that both Turnkey Pharmacy Solutions and ELEVATE340B have joined SpendMend. Read about it here. We couldn’t be more excited by the...
HRSA Hospital Recertification
It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year. No, not college football (still stings to think about that), but HRSA’s annual recertification for hospitals. This year, HRSA has provided updated registration and recertification requirements. This blog is not intended to...
“Internal Audit” can better support a hospital’s financial stability during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Written By: Dan Geelhoed The Ongoing Cost of COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has driven revenues down for nearly every industry especially the healthcare industry. In particular, the widespread decision of practically all U.S. hospitals this past spring to suspend...
The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospital and Healthcare Construction
Written by: Curt Plyler, Principle at Fort Hill Associates The Problem Hospitals and healthcare networks invest large amounts of capital into construction projects every year. Managing these projects requires key personnel at the hospital to set a clear plan,...
Why I Do What I Do…
Written By: David Hewitt, RVP of Sales - East, SpendMend Remember, before this pandemic took over our lives, when we all used to travel to trades shows? Last year - about this time - I attended the AHRMM Health Care Supply Chain Conference in San Diego. I recall, we...
COVID-19 Critical Challenges Told By Healthcare P2P Staff
Written By: Amanda Geelhoed Papach, Marketing Director at SpendMend A few weeks ago, SpendMend created a COVID-19 Idea Exchange for Healthcare Finance, Internal Audit, Supply Chain, and Accounts Payable Departments. This Idea Exchange survey requested input about how...
HRSA Allows for Immediate 340B Use at PBDs/HOPDs
Several Apexus frequently asked questions (FAQs) have been released recently that have been interpreted to mean hospital 340B CEs will no longer need to wait to use 340B drugs at new or relocated provider-based clinics. Turnkey is just as pleasantly surprised as you...
Webinar Recap: 5 Hidden Ways That COVID-19 is Impacting Your Business
Written By: Rob Heminger, SpendMend President, rheminger@spendmend.com Yesterday I hosted a webinar entitled, “The five hidden reasons why COVID-19 is hurting your Procure-to-Pay (P2P) process.” I used the presentation to reveal several hidden areas throughout the P2P...
When The Hospitals Started Asking Me For Help… We’re Stronger Together.
Written By: David Hewitt, RVP of Sales - East, dhewitt@spendmend.com I’ve served healthcare networks and hospitals for nearly a decade and if you would have asked me in January… I would have told you that I had seen it all. But I hadn’t…none of us had. The last few...
Change, Complexity and Compliance in a Pandemic
Written By: Michael Koory, Regional Vice President of Sales - Mid America Does anyone else want to start 2020 all over again? Roll back the time and start over? Take a minute and think back to your 2020 planning session. Were you were making plans for managing a...
340B/HRSA EMERGENCY ENROLLMENT
Some call it Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Others call it Corona Virus disease of 2019. Many like to say Covid-19 or just plain Corona. Anyway you say it, it brings up many emotions for nearly every American. Everyone in our society has been impacted in some way. The...
SpendMend Remains Dedicated to your Financial Health During this Time
As the impact of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread across the country and the world, we wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge all the hard work you, and other healthcare industry professionals, are doing to help keep people safe and healthy. As...
An Open Thank You To A Different Kind Of Healthcare Hero
We have heard the brave stories of the doctors, nurses, spiritual advisors, and janitorial staff members standing face-to-face with COVID-19 and its direct impact and we thank them for their courage and efforts, but we also want to thank the unsung and forgotten about...
Caring and Preparing – A Challenge Unique to Healthcare
Written By: Michael Koory, RVP of Sales- Mid America To all people working in healthcare – Thank you! Recently, I read an article and listened to some audio relating to PWC’s recent survey on what is keeping CFO’s up at night amidst COVID-19 Find the link...
Telehealth and the 340B Patient Definition
Unless you have been living under a rock the past several months, you know that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) has dramatically impacted how both hospital and clinic providers strategize to provide healthcare to patients, including remotely via telehealth...
340B Program Legislative & Regulatory Update
For those of us in the 340B program trenches, it feels like we are constantly under assault from our legislatures (e.g., Senate and House bills with detrimental effects on 340B), regulatory agencies (e.g., CMS reimbursement, HHS/HRSA interpretations of the law), drug...
10 Tips for Working From Home With Your Kids
Written By: Amanda Geelhoed Papach, Director of Marketing, SpendMend, ageelhoed@spendmend.com COVID-19 has rocked the world and our culture over the last month erupting in cancellations of schools, day care, work, holidays, professional sports seasons, and even the...
The Positive Influence of Supply Chain into the Recovery Audit Process
Written By: Nash Shook, nshook@spendmend.com Tucked away in woodsy, western North Carolina, I grew up in a progressive but small-town healthcare household. My mother was a CRNA in our local hospital. My dad was the Supply Chain Director at the hospital in the next...
The More Things Change, The More Things Stay The Same
Written By: Nicole Thompson, Director of Business Development, nthompson@spendmend.com When I started in the recovery audit industry as an intern at an industry leader, I was shuttling disks and drives to the data processor’s office and picking up bankers boxes of...
A Difference Made
We hear negative goings-on in the world so often that we gloss over what happened and keep reading down the page. We are engrossed in our work and don’t always respect why we continue to do the daily grind. Some work for a paycheck. Some work for the difference...
A Key Question About the OIG’s Audit of Medical Device Warranty Credits
Written by: Alan J. Brander, abrander@spendmend.com Last week we ran a webinar in cooperation with our new partner, the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ). The topic was centered around what can hospitals expect from the Office of Inspector...
SpendMend Donates over 200 Toys to Local Toys 4 Tots
Written by: Hannah Geelhoed, Community Involvement Director Each year SpendMend employees get together to collect money for Toys 4 Tots Kent County. Between our employees and the company match we were able to raise over $1500! We make sure to plan ahead so we can get...
Healthcare Finance & Accounts Payable Leadership Spotlight: Patty Carrel
Name: Patty Carrel Area of Expertise: AP, Leadership, People Management, Automation, Process Optimization, Financial Technology Solutions Patty Carrel has worked for some of the largest and most recognizable brands in healthcare for over 30 years. In her tenure she...
The Fear That May Be Holding Some AP Professionals Back
Written By: Jill Ulliman, System Director, Accounts Payable at OhioHealth Corporation I recently shared a story with a long-time colleague from the Recovery Audit firm, SpendMend, about a session I attended this past year at the annual IOFM conference. After...
SpendMend Employees Save 75 Lives in One Day
Written By: Amanda Geelhoed Papach, Marketing Director Seven years ago I was tasked with finding a way for our employees to give back to our clients. The same week that I was given this project Super Storm Sandy hit the east coast. There was a nationwide call for...
How Are Your Hospital’s Finances Just Like Halloween Candy?
Written by: Amanda Geelhoed Papach, ageelhoed@spendmend.com As kids, my sisters and I would travel from our small quiet street to a giant neighborhood. We would head to our uncle’s house where we would meet up with cousins and friends and fuel up with pizza before the...
4 Innovative Ways to Contain Healthcare Financial Leakage
Written By: Michael Koory, RVP of Sales 4 Innovative Ways to Contain Healthcare Financial Leakage The financial risk to health systems has never been higher. Decades of reimbursement reductions coupled with operating cost increases have left health systems executives...
Should I Send All Explanted Devices Back to the Vendor?
During last month's webinar we hosted (click here to watch) about the steep fines hospitals are facing due to Medical Device credits and the confusion surrounding the status of warranties for certain devices an attendee posed the questions: Do you have to send every...
Medical Device Warranty Credits & Regulatory Requirements…Is Your Hospital at Risk?
Written By: Alan J. Brander, CSO at SpendMend, abrander@spendmend.com Medical Device warranty tracking and credit payments have become a focal point for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as evidenced by several new requirements in past last ten...
Three Reasons Why Healthcare Companies Are Draining Cash!
Written By: Rob Heminger, President, rheminger@spendmend.com In today’s complex business landscape, large organizations suffer costly operational lapses and significant financial leakage on a daily basis. The matter is particularly challenging in the healthcare...
What Did 100 Healthcare Professionals at the AHRMM Conference Teach Us About Goal-Setting for the Balance of 2019?
By: Tom Flynn, VP of Marketing, tfylnn@spendmend.com Earlier this month we piled 5 of our most prized employees into a booth at the The Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) conference in San Diego, California. We had so much fun...
Why Finance Departments in the Healthcare Space Need to Start Talking About the “Dark Data” in Their Cost Cycle
By: Dan Geelhoed, CEO, dgeelhoed@spendmend.com Before we can have this conversation, we first need to outline what we mean by “Dark Data.” In the simplest terms, “Dark Data” can be defined as the information embedded in the cost cycle that is not easily visible,...
AP Audit Alone, Is No Longer Enough
By: David Hewitt, Regional Vice President of Sales - Northeast When I was told by marketing that I had to write a blog, my first instinct was “…you must think of an excuse, this wasn’t in my job description… I’m Way Too Busy!” If you’re like me, when told you must do...
Where Visibility Meets Actual Recovery
By: Michael Koory - Regional VP of Sales - Mid America In the last post ( Read it Here) I discussed the importance of being able to see your entire hospital as one whole entity. As discussed, a typical traditional 3 years back cost recovery firm will find savings...
Stop Leakage and Multiply Savings With Actionable Insights From Your Enterprise Spending
By: Michael Koory, Regional VP of Sales - Mid America All health systems have developed and implemented internal controls designed to protect against losing money in the Procure-to-Pay Process. These include departmental controls, system controls, and process...
The Top 5 Causes of Dark Data
By: Michael Koory, Regional VP of Sales - Mid America We introduced the concept and defined dark data as: Information embedded in the cost cycle is not readily visible, sometimes not accessible, and rarely timely. To refresh on the dark data concept, please visit the...
What Scares You About An Audit?
It’s the time of the year when being scared is encouraged. Everywhere you look spiders, skeletons, and monsters are lurking... even in your finances, pharmacy, and OR. There is no reason to be part of the 51%* of surveyed healthcare executives who view a recovery...
Introduction to Cost Cycle Management
Introduction to Cost Cycle Management Reimbursement constraints continue to put pressure on Health Systems throughout the country. Consequently, more and more efforts are focused on creating an efficient well-organized Cost Cycle Management process. Ensuring every bit...
Financial Leakage Sneaks into Supply Chain
Financial Leakage Sneaks into Supply Chain Financial Leakage can find its way into Supply Chain in a variety of ways, but a lack of time, insufficient data, expired, returned, and recalled items, as well as cost management, can plague an entire department. Lack...
The Struggles of a CFO in 2018
The Struggles of a CFO in 2018 In today’s healthcare market the CFO’s job has become more stressful and encompassing than ever before. To keep pace with board requirements, changes in regulation and reduced budgets the CFO must become a master of efficiency and...