AskMariaTodd

Back by Popular Demand! 2-day Contracting Master Classes with Maria Todd
After 12 wonderful years as an HFMA National speaker, Maria seminars will be offered through the AskMariaTodd™ .
These two-day learning intensive master classes will be offered less frequently than in the past and registration will be priced lower to meet market needs and increase accessibility. 

"Analyzing and Negotiating Managed Care Contracts"
A Two-Day Master Class Designed to Improve Your Contracting Skills

Registration is $725 per person and includes: Break refreshments and lunches, course materials, certificate of course completion, and an autographed copy of Maria's new book, The Managed Care Contracting Handbook, 2nd Edition  ($80 value).

• An operational understanding of the contracting process.
• How to improve the contracts you already have.
• How to enforce your agreements.
• How to manage underpayments and refund requests and denials.
• How recently enacted legislation can affect contract terms and conditions.
• How to identify and troubleshoot problems frequently encountered in the implementation of the contract.
• Make the most out of what you negotiated.
• How to develop internal tools that can be used for improving the analytical and management tasks of ongoing participation in the contract negotiations.
• To develop exit strategies for badly written contracts.
• What to look out for - When to Say "No"!

Seminar Outline

This seminar guides you through the demystification of traditional contract language, and the impact on provider operations and costs. Additionally, the class is led through a demonstration in the development and use of existing Microsoft Office ® applications and techniques to build a contracting “toolkit” to manage the due diligence process necessary for proper contract analysis, ongoing contract management and periodic operational reviews.

Students with laptop computers are welcome to bring them to class to work “hands on” as these techniques are demonstrated in class. These tools will then be “take home tools” for use in future contract review. We'll go through various paragraphs in typical managed care contracts currently seen throughout the nation and examine the perils and pitfalls just signing on the dotted line. Practicable solutions will be offered, as well as a technique to address negotiation jitters through non-confrontational methods of negotiation. We will earn to identify and dismantle the vagueness of complex managed care contracts with many of the classic and not so-classic problem terms and conditions and “gotchas” frequently encountered in HMO, PPO, Silent PPO and other managed care agreements. Upon completion, you will feel more adept at the conversion of the boilerplate terms into clearly negotiated objectives, expectations and measurable actions. Whether you have been contracting with managed care organizations for only a few weeks or many years, this class will serve as an in-depth, hands-on and powerful workshop designed to assist you.

1. UNDERSTANDING THE MANAGED CARE CONTRACTING PROCESS
   
   • The basics in a nutshell:
     • Form, structure and content 
     • Classic Contract Problems
   • Silent PPO structures: how to work through and around them
   • ERISA contracting concerns
   • Plan bankruptcy concerns and what to do before it happens
   • Living with the Contracts Already in Place - What to Do - How to Do It 
   • Dealing with underpayments, audits, late payments and requests for refunds and denials
   • Mitigating liability in contracting associated with indemnification and hold-harmless issues
   • Evaluating hidden cost escalators in contracts-what they look like and what to do about them
   • Developing a managed care contracting committee: fostering internal and external relationships
   • Managing automatic renewals and fee escalations
   • Enforcing the agreement: dispute resolution options in managed care
2. USING READILY AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY FOR CONTRACT MANAGEMENT TASKS
   • Examine techniques using existing software you may already have to assist in contract analysis and revision
   • Develop a contract matrix of existing contracts using existing software you may already have for database management applications
   • Develop financial modeling tools for new and existing contracts
   • Develop an “onboard” library of tools, regulations and sample forms on your computer
   • Easy ways to research State and Federal Regulations and Administrative Codes
   • Use your word processor to identify more than 150 problem words and phrases in contracts
3. DEVELOPING A SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR YOU
   • Evaluate ambiguous words and phrases
   • Develop a strategy for working more efficiently with attorneys
   • Use the Internet and online resources to help with analysis and revision
4. Paragraph by Paragraph Analysis and Practical Solutions
5. Managed Care Profitability - How to Measure it, How to Improve It, When to Get Out
   • Increase profitability by decreasing the terms and performance variables of multiple contracts, standardize contract terms within an organization, practice analyzing various reimbursement models, which can become actual payer reimbursement problems if not negotiated correctly.
   • Exit Strategies for Bad Contracts
6. NON-CONFRONTATIONAL NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES
   • Initiating the dialogue that fosters trust, integrity and veracity
   • Requesting further clarification

Maria Todd began presenting her nationally acclaimed two-day program, Analyzing and Negotiating Managed Care Contracts in 1995.   She has been teaching this class for HFMA National since 1996. It was just about the time she was wrapping up the manuscript for her first book, The Managed Care Contracting Handbook, which was co-published by the McGraw Hill and the HFMA.  She has been honored as a HFMA Annual National Institute Distinguished Speaker five times since 2002.  This honor is bestowed upon speakers who receive post-program evaluations in the first quartile in all metrics.  This class has been presented more than 2600 times to more than 60,000 class participants in the last 16 years.

Dates:
Denver, CO - March 15-16 , 2010; 8am - 3:30pm  REGISTER  ONE SEAT LEFT! as of 08 MArch 2010.
Denver, CO - April 12-13 , 2010;  8am - 3:30pm  REGISTER  FOUR SEATS LEFT as of 08 March 2010.

No registrations will be accepted at the door due to seating capacities.

Our main headquarters office in downtown Denver, Colorado is located at the prestigious Denver Place. Comprised of the North and South Towers, Terraces and the Plaza Tower, Denver Place is Colorado's largest commercial office property offering stunning 350 degree views of downtown Denver, including those of the breathtaking Rocky Mountains. The two office towers anchor a complex covering two city blocks in Denver's Central Business District. In addition to our corporate offices, the complex includes a retail mall, athletic club, 5 Star hotel, and hundreds of fantastic restaurants.

Travel Information:
Airline Information:
We are conveniently served by several airlines including: Southwest, American, Continental, United, Frontier, and others.
SuperShuttle provides convenient access to downtown with frequent service from Denver International Airport.  Taxis are also available.

Our building is conveniently connected by a pedestriation connection bridge to the Ritz Carlton-Denver located at 1881 Curtis St. Denver, Colorado 80202, United States. Reservations are available by calling +1.303.312.3811.  It would be our pleasure to assist you with hotel and ground transfer reservations from Denver's International Airport. 

Several other hotels are within convenient walking distance: