Research Now Faster With CCH MEDICARE And MEDICAID Guide Enhancements

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., April 13, 2000) – Finding the latest and most crucial information on Medicare and Medicaid is now easier than ever, according to CCH INCORPORATED (CCH), a leading provider of health law information and software. The electronic versions of the CCH Medicare and Medicaid Guide now feature convenient shortcuts that speed researchers to frequently sought documents and explanations, and the Internet version of this industry-standard publication now also offers access to Medicare and Medicaid forms. (For more information or to order the CCH Medicare and Medicaid Guide contact your local CCH representative at 888-224-7377, or visit http://health.cch.com.)

For more than 30 years, the CCH Medicare and Medicaid Guide has been a complete resource for healthcare professionals and suppliers of health services. The CD-ROM and Internet versions of this definitive publication have now been enhanced so that critical content is easier and quicker to locate for veteran and novice users alike, according to Wendy Williams, marketing manager for CCH’s health law group.

"Our goal was to make the Guide even easier to use by providing researchers with shortcuts to key information and quick access to research tools such as our Rapid Finder for Health Law," Williams said.

Rapid Finder

The Rapid Finder for Health Law occupies a prominent spot on the start page. It lists critical research topics, using a variety of descriptive terms so that researchers can locate content by using the terms most familiar to them. For each topic, there are instructions on how to locate the desired information, usually with hotlinks that take users directly to data in the various publications included in the library.

"The Rapid Finder is like having an experienced researcher at your elbow, ready to offer tips and shortcuts for any topic you’re interested in," Williams observed.

Start Screen Shortcuts

Researchers will also discover a wealth of entries on the start screen for the Guide that will take them directly to topics of high interest.

For users who need to keep abreast of current developments, a "What’s New" entry on the start screen opens to reveal the latest additions and updates to the database. This makes it easy to spot new amendments, the latest court decisions, revised commentary, updated forms and more. New primary source documents listed have hyperlinks to their full texts.

Another tool for keeping current is the News Report Letter Summary. Each weekly report letter has a summary in the form of a topical listing so users can scan the contents of the entire letter and target the items they wish to read. Letter articles discussing new contents, such as reports of court decisions, contain hotlinks to the underlying primary source documents.

DRG tables are also instantly available from the start page. A single click brings up a menu where users can choose today’s inpatient hospital PPS rates, or historical rates for prior years stretching back to 1988.

Convenient features also await researchers who open menu items on the start page.

On the "Explanations and Annotations" start screen, the convenient CCH "Finding Lists" page has been positioned as the first menu item. PRRB decisions, MGCRB decisions, HCFA manual excerpts, HCFA rulings, intermediary letters and program memoranda are all readily retrieved form this page.

Users who are beginning their research with one of the 17 federal laws affecting Medicare and Medicaid enacted in the last 18 years will find a "Federal Legislation" selection under the "Medicare and Medicaid Laws and Regulations" heading. They can then proceed from the name of the law to a menu of the Medicare-relevant provisions it contains.

Interactive Forms

Subscribers who access the CCH Medicare and Medicaid Guide over the Internet can now also subscribe to a set of interactive HCFA and DMERC forms. There are forms for invoicing, cost reporting, applications, surveys and more, updated on a regular basis. Forms can be filled out onscreen, printed out and saved to disc.

Availability and Pricing

For more information or to order the CCH Medicare and Medicaid Guide, call 800-449-9525 or contact your local CCH representative at 888-CCH-REPS (888-224-7377). The price of a one-year subscription to the Guide on CD-ROM is $1,489 plus applicable tax, shipping and handling; the price for a one-year subscription to the Guide on the Internet is $1,539.

About CCH INCORPORATED

CCH INCORPORATED, headquartered in Riverwoods, Ill., was founded in 1913 and has served four generations of business professionals and their clients. The company produces more than 700 electronic and print products for the tax, legal, securities, insurance, human resources, health care and small business markets. CCH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer U.S. The CCH web site can be accessed at www.cch.com. The CCH health and medical web site can be accessed at http://health.cch.com.

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