Attention All Clinical Exercise Physiologists

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Advancing the profession

Another piece to advancing and promoting the profession of clinical exercise physiologists has been put into place!  CEPA has been contacted several times by members with requests to assist them in working with the federal government to establish National Provider Identifier (NPI) eligibility. In response to these requests, the legislative committee of CEPA has worked hard to research this and make it happen.  See below to learn more about this important step and how it can impact the clinical exercise physiology profession.

What is an NPI and why is it important?

A National Provider Identifier (NPI) is a unique 10-digit identification number issued to health care providers in the United States by the Centers for

Medicare and Medicaid Services  (CMS).  All individual HIPAA-covered healthcare providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, physician assistants, chiropractors, physical therapists, athletic trainers etc.) or organizations (hospitals, home health care agencies, nursing homes, laboratories, pharmacies, medical equipment companies, etc.) must obtain an NPI for use in all HIPAA standard transactions.  Typically, most healthcare providers working in a hospital/clinic based settings would be filed under the group NPI designation held by their organization. It is unlikely that a CEP working in this type of setting will have an individual need for an NPI, but not unheard of.  (This is exactly the situation of one of the requests noted above).  Those working as what’s known as an “Entity Type I provider” or “sole proprietor”, though, require an individual NPI enumeration code for billing purposes.  For example, someone who furnishes healthcare to patients and does not practice as part of a health care organization is an “Entity Type 1 provider”.

A Call to Action

Inclusion of the Clinical Exercise Physiologist in a national code set of healthcare providers proves to be one more step toward bringing the clinical exercise profession to the same level as Physical Therapists, Registered Dietitians, etc.  CEPA is encouraging all Clinical Exercise Physiologists to apply for an individual NPI number.  (The greater the number of individuals applying for NPIs, the more we will increase our visibility and the more CMS will realize what an important role CEPs play in healthcare!)  Please visit the CEPA website at www.cepa-acsm.org for helpful information on how to apply.

Set the Standard with AACVPR Program Certification

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AACVPR certified programs are recognized as leaders in the field of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation. As the only peer-review accreditation process for cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation programs, AACVPR Certification is designed to review individual programs for adherence to standards and guidelines developed and published by AACVPR and other professional societies.

Certification is valid for three years and tells referring physicians, patients, colleagues, and your community that your program follows best practices in

patient care and program management.

 

  • Hospital administrators embrace program certification as a vehicle to demonstrate excellence for state departments of health or TJC surveyors.
  • Insurance companies recognize that performance measures in patient care are part of the essential standards required for AACVPR certification.
  • Patients and family members can feel confident in knowing that your staff has the experience and skills necessary to deal with the variety of issues that a life-changing cardiac or pulmonary diagnosis can lead to.

Meet the Requirements: AACVPR Membership
In order to apply for program certification, you must have a current AACVPR member within your program. If your membership is about to expire or you need to register a member to represent your program, visit the AACVPR Web site and join or renew your membership today.

Start Preparing Today
The AACVPR Program Certification Application opens December 1, 2011. Programs have three months to submit their applications; the application closes February 29, 2012.

Click here to learn more about the AACVPR Program Certification process.

Value-Based Insurance Design in Cardiology

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Using “Clinical Nuance” to Improve Quality of Care and Contain Costs*

The past several decades have produced remarkable technological and therapeutic innovations in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, resulting in impressive reductions in cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality. These enhanced clinical outcomes coincide with a time of significant stress within our health care system, namely, with the burden of ballooning costs of care. In recent years, health care spending has grown much faster than the rate of inflation, with cardiovascular expenditures accounting for the largest portion of spending.