A Medicare number or a PTAN (Provider Transaction Access Number) is essential for independent pharmacies, but the enrollment process can take months and many pharmacists have trouble navigating the complicated forms.
Can every pharmacist give immunizations? What are the restrictions and license requirements? How do you bill for immunizations? Who can administer vaccines in the pharmacy? How can I improve my pharmacy business by doing immunizations? Why should I do travel vaccines?
Jeff Hedges, our in-house compliance expert and CEO of R.J. Hedges and Associates, answers all these questions and more in the latest Pharmacy Compliance Podcast: Pharmacy Immunzitions - It's More Than Just Flu Shots.
Medicare Application by the Numbers: Pharmacy Compliance Guide Summary
Applying for a Medicare number, also known as PTAN, can be time-consuming, confusing and quite daunting as there are almost 50 pages in the CMS 855B alone! First, you need to determine which application needs completed based on the services you hope to offer. Then the next challenge is to determine which sections need completed. Are there additional forms to complete, what extra documents need included, how and where to submit payment? Then the longest part, waiting to see if you have been approved or denied!
Our experts at R.J. Hedges & Associates have an all-new podcast for you! This podcast will highlight the three key elements to DEA Documentation from our very own Jeffery Hedges, and Carlos Aquino, a retired DEA Diversion Agent so that your pharmacy can better prepare for DEA inspections.
iMedicare is now Amplicare! After much consideration, iMedicare has decided to undergo some significant changes in order to best serve the evolving needs of community pharmacies. 
Our experts here at R.J. Hedges & Associates have an all new podcast for you on Durable Medical Equipment Specialist Certification! Brought to you by our own Jeff Hedges, this blog will help you learn the language of DME so that you learn how to dispense, document, and most importantly earn revenue!
Once you are done listening to our blog click here for more information!
Part of the Medicare Part D program involves ensuring pharmacies properly train their staff. Pharmacy Benefit Managers have the ability to manage the program, enforcing Fraud, Waste & Abuse Training, OIG Exclusion Verification, and HIPAA Compliance Training. Every fall the staff must verify that they accomplished these requirements. Unfortunately, many pharmacies sign the attestations even though they did not complete the training.
Quality control, its something everyone in the pharmacy must be involved in. Quantity control helps to reduce mistakes, and improve Patient Safety. Errors do happen and it is imperative pharmacies are aware of how to protect themselves as well as their patients. The Fit Pharmacist partner and Pharmacy Podcast Network co-host Dr. Christina Tarantola joins Jeff Hedges, President of R.J. Hedges & Associates and Pharmacy Compliance Guide podcast host with Tara Modisett, Executive Director of Alliance for Patient Medication Safety in a podcast on Patient Safety Organizations recorded live at the NCPA 2017..jpg?width=320&name=torch-award-logo%20(003).jpg "torch-award-logo")
R.J. Hedges & Associates of New Florence, PA has been selected by an independent panel of judges from Duquesne University for the 2017 Better Business Bureau’s Torch Awards for Ethics. The annual Torch Awards for Ethics program is open to all for-profit companies (BBB accredited and non-accredited) that are located in the 28 county service area of Western Pennsylvania and meet the guidelines. Companies are evaluated against criteria that includes leadership commitment to ethical practices, communication of ethical practices, leadership practices to unify the organization and organizational commitment to performance management practices, ethical human resource practices and the community.
At R.J. Hedges, we firmly believe that working with a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) has numerous benefits. In fact, we enroll our clients with a PSO depending on what services they purchase. I want to share some great information about APMS the PSO that we collaborate with to provide exceptional service to our clients.
