From November 11 through November 14, 2018, The National Alliance of Medical Auditing Specialists (NAMAS) hosted its 10th Annual Auditing and Compliance Conference at the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach in Clearwater Beach, Florida. This unique event caters to the education of medical auditors, compliance officers, practice managers, physicians, and other healthcare professionals. Each year, our conference attendance grows and this year was no different. NAMAS prides itself in offering education that doesn’t just cover surface-level topics, but digs deep into each subject, offering attendees a better understanding, along with takeaways to implement in their own organizations, presented by hand-selected, industry experts as presenters.
Not every conference attendee has the same job role, and not every auditor reviews the same type of record. That’s why during our pre-conference event on Sunday, November 11, attendees had the opportunity to select sessions from a variety of focused tracks: physician based auditing, compliance, facility-based auditing and FQHC/Rural Health. Attendees enjoyed the flexibility to select the sessions that were most relevant to themselves and their job function.
On Monday, conference attendees sat in on a series of general sessions, which began with NAMAS President Shannon DeConda discussing CMS’ proposed changes to E/M Services for both 2019 and 2021 and ended with our first ever E/M Debate- where moderator Scott Kraft, CPC, CPMA posed thoughtful questions to our panel of speakers for their input, and also took questions from the audience on their toughest situations related to E/M auditing. The evening ended with a reception with the exhibitors.
On Tuesday, attendees again had the opportunity to select sessions between four focused tracks: compliance, physician-based auditing, specialty physician-based 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 VIP reception held at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium for a selected group of conference VIPs. The event included food and drinks, a private dolphin presentation and exclusive access to the aquarium.
The last day of conference began with a session identifying an auditor’s liability presented by Robert Liles, continued with discussions regarding the opiate crisis and ended with a presentation regarding Stark Law from Daniel Shay, JD.
Additionally, NAMAS welcomed over twenty industry-relevant exhibitors to display their organization and offerings to attendees. Throughout exhibit hall hours, attendees were awarded drawing tickets which they could accumulate and use to bid on a variety of available prizes made possible by donations from our exhibitors. This fun and interactive component encouraged attendees to engage with exhibitors and sparked a little friendly competition among each other.
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. If you were able to join us for this year’s event, we sincerely thank you and hope we were able to deliver a quality education event. If you weren’t able to join us, we invite you to consider attending our 11th Annual Auditing & Compliance Conference which will be held October 27-30, 2019 in Clearwater Beach, FL.