NAMAS hosted their 11th Annual Auditing & Compliance Conference on October 27-30, 2019 at the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Each year, conference attendance continues to grow, and this year was no different, with more than 200 in attendance.
This event offers an opportunity for medical auditors, compliance officers, medical coders, practice managers, physicians, and other healthcare professionals to obtain relevant education on topics specific to medical auditing and compliance while networking with peers and leading industry professionals. NAMAS prides itself on providing in-depth comprehensive education presented by hand-selected industry experts. Attendees gain a better understanding of each topic along with takeaways to implement in their own organizations.
Additionally, NAMAS welcomed over twenty industry-relevant exhibitors to display their organization’s products and services to attendees. Exhibitors were also asked to award drawing tickets to attendees based on their level of interaction, which were then used to bid on a variety of door prizes donated by the exhibitors. This fun and interactive component encouraged attendees to engage with exhibitors and sparked a little friendly competition among each other.
Attendees that elected to attend the full-day, Pre-Conference event on Sunday, October 27 had the flexibility to choose between sessions in three separate tracks that were most relevant to their interests and job function. Shannon DeConda presented the new Inpatient E/M Auditing BootCamp to those that selected the E/M Auditing track. The Litigation track offered expert witness coaching and deposition support which included a mock trial. Attendees played various roles in the “courtroom”, ruling on plausible cases. The Physician Based Auditing track gave a hands-on look at an audit from start to finish.
Monday morning presented an opportunity for those interested to take the CEMA or CEMA-IP exam while a select group of conference VIPs enjoyed brunch during an exclusive session; AI: New World Benefits in the Non-Clinical Setting presented by Frank Cohen. The conference was officially kicked off Monday afternoon with a series of general sessions beginning with NAMAS President Shannon DeConda discussing the Future of Healthcare and CMS’ proposed changes to E/M Services for 2021. The day concluded with an enjoyable evening at the exhibitor reception and costume contest. The winner of the costume contest, voted for by the exhibitors, won free registration to the 2020 Conference.
On Tuesday, attendees could select sessions in four focused tracks: Compliance, Physician-Based Auditing, Specialty Auditing, and Compliance Legalities. Within the specialty auditing track, attendees were able to learn about specialty-specific issues as well as practice their skills with some hands-on application of E/M encounters. The evening was capped off with a reception for conference VIPs at Bad Fins Food + Brew, a unique restaurant adjacent to the hotel. This lively event included a taco bar and drinks and a DJ had everyone dancing into the night.
General sessions on the last day of conference began with an overview of current kickback cases presented by Robert Liles, OIG and Regulatory Guidance from Sean Weiss, and concluded with Amanda Wasch discussing the False Claims Act & Enforcement.
NAMAS would like to extend a sincere “thank you” to all conference speakers, exhibitors, staff members, and attendees who helped make this conference a true success. We hope that we were able to deliver a quality education event! We look forward to seeing each of you at the 12th Annual NAMAS Auditing & Compliance Conference at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 7-9, 2020.