Technology Solutions Increase School Medicaid Revenue (US)
May 11, 2011
Federal legislation addresses the education needs of children with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (I DEA). States receiving federal funds under IDEA are required to provide a free, appropriate, public education for all children with disabilities, and this includes health-related services necessary for their participation in a standard educational setting. While IDEA provides some funding for this program, the balance of cost is the responsibility of each school district/LEA.
The federal government provides support for the additional cost burdens via the federal Medicaid program. Schools can submit claims for medically necessary health services provided to Medicaid-eligible special education students. They may receive reimbursements for both the direct costs of the services and the associated administrative costs. Medicaid reimbursements are an important resource for schools, particularly those in high poverty areas with large percentages of Medicaid-eligible students.
School-based Medicaid claiming is complex. A successful program requires lots of paperwork, and many people are involved in the process of claiming reimbursements. With many moving parts, a successful claiming program can benefit from technologies that did not exist just ten years ago. The emergence of Software as a Service (SaaS) fostered by cloud computing provides two components necessary for running a successful program: centralization of data and ease of access to data.
We are already seeing the shift to SaaS systems in schools. But whereas most technologies only cut costs, better technologies for school-based Medicaid claiming actually bring in additional funds. Accelify is proud to be leading the way in this area.
We have developed applications that are designed to manage the special education program and related health services, including the Medicaid billing component. The centerpiece of our applications is AcceliTRACK, a schedule management solution that allows service providers to schedule, document, and develop claims for student health services.& amp;nbsp; Another program, AcceliPLAN, digitizes the Individualized Education Program (IEP) development process and integrates with AcceliTRACK to ensure that all IEP services are documented in compliance with IDEA and Medicaid regulations.
Compliance with IDEA and Medicaid regulations is crucial. For Medicaid, it is important that claims are backed up by complete service information and required documentation. For IDEA, it is imperative that schools can prove that students received the services in their IEP. The digitization of student health service information makes it easier for schools to successfully manage these complex processes while maintaining strict compliance.
Accelify’s systems simplify school-based Medicaid claiming in the same way that good technologies make anything easier—you can do more in less time, and you can see connections between data that enable better assessment. Accelify strives to provide this functionality for all of the components of a school-based Medicaid program. Smart bells and whistles, like predictive typing and custom data filters, ensure ease of use. Other benefits of our systems, such as no additional hardware and no in-house tech support needed, should be high priorities for organizations, like school districts, that work on limited budgets.