NAMAS hosted its 14^th Annual Auditing & Compliance Conference on December 8-9, 2022. We welcomed attendees to the historic DeSoto hotel in Savannah, Georgia for two days of in-depth industry education. This event was truly unique as we are approaching the implementation of the expansions to the 2021 E&M Documentation Guidelines. This presented the timely opportunity to focus many of our conference sessions on what lies ahead and how individuals in our industry can prepare themselves and their organizations for these expansions.

The first day of conference consisted of general sessions for all attendees. Shannon DeConda, DoctorsManagement Partner & NAMAS President, kicked off conference by discussing defendable documentation and strategies for educating providers. We then switched perspectives and learned about the legal challenges and concerns with the guidelines as presented by Jeana Singleton from the law firm of Brennan, Manna & Diamond. From there, we moved to Split/Shared Services. First, Sean Weiss, DoctorsManagement Partner & VP of Compliance reviewed these services from a compliance risk perspective; then, Robert Liles from the law firm of LilesParker discussed Split/Shared and Incident-To from a legal perspective. Day one of conference ended with a unique session presented by Sean Weiss and Scott Kraft, DoctorsManagement Senior Compliance Consultant. Sean and Scott presented: Does Your Resume Tell Your Best Story? Together, they provided their tips for building an effective resume or CV that paints the best portrait of you as a professional in the industry. Day one ended with an attendee appreciation reception with cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres.

Conference day 2 provided attendees to select breakout sessions among two tracks – “Let’s Audit!” and “Compliance”. During our “Let’s Audit!” track, attendees had the opportunity to apply their knowledge of the current (and upcoming!) guidelines to use! Each session in this track was an interactive, hands-on session where the speaker gave the audience a series of sample encounters to audit and discuss findings as a group. These sessions were held for Office/Clinic, Inpatient, Emergency, and Prolonged Services. This track wrapped up with Shannon DeConda providing her template and guidance for educating providers on the 2023 expansions to the E&M Guidelines.

The second breakout track option focused on compliance-related topics such as Audit Escalations presented by Sean Weiss; Structuring Your HCC/MRA Audit Plan for 2023, presented by Stephanie Allard, DoctorsManagement Senior Compliance Consultant; Attorney-Client Privilege, presented by Robert Liles; To Modify or Not to Modify, presented by Scott Kraft; and ended with Legal Considerations with TeleHealth Services by Jeana Singleton.

But it wasn’t all about work! This year, NAMAS worked to provide an immersive conference experience and allow attendees the opportunity to not only explore the host city but also support small businesses. For breakfasts and lunches during conference, attendees were invited to visit local eateries outside of the conference venue. This allowed attendees the opportunity to explore the beautiful city of Savannah, enjoy some fresh air, and support local merchants. The feedback received from attendees regarding their dining experiences was overwhelmingly positive.

The NAMAS team would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of our attendees, speakers, and staff who helped make this event an incredible success. If you were able to join us this year, we sincerely thank you and hope that we were able to deliver a quality education experience. If you were not able to attend, we invite you to consider our upcoming virtual conference in April 2023, or our in-person 15^th Annual Auditing & Compliance Conference next December. Details will be released very soon!

We wish you all a safe and healthy holiday season!