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Medical Records Briefing

Issue 12, December 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Next up for EHR efforts: Certification and interoperability

  Certification of electronic health records (EHR) products will begin in one year. At least that's...

• 2005 OIG Work Plan: History allows for more focused initiatives

  In past years, the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Work Plan used general terms such as...

• More tasks means 40-hour weeks just aren't enough for HIM managers

  Most HIM directors (87%) don't feel they can accomplish their work responsibilities in a regular...

Issue 11, November 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Tackle tricky IM standards

  Three information management (IM) standards made the JCAHO's list of most frequently cited...

• GA facility overhauls record review

  Ongoing record review was not going well for Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah...

• Summarize audit findings for better compliance

  You probably already conduct regular audits on everything from staff productivity to documentation...

• Know how to deidentify records before releasing information

  Any covered entity that plans to disclose health information for use without the constraints of...

Issue 10, October 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Proposed OPPS rule: No E/M news

  The proposed 2005 outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rule does not include national...

• Medicare call centers don't make the grade, says government

  Only 4% of the responses the Government Accountability Office (GAO) received during 300 test calls...

• Pilot hospital tells all about unannounced JCAHO survey

  If four surveyors show up in your lobby unannounced in 2006, will you be ready? That's exactly what...

Issue 9, September 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Thompson announces electronic record goals, actions to date

  Declaring the next 10 years the "decade of health information technology [IT]," Department of...

• Final IPPS rule: Pay-for-performance, higher rates, lower outlier threshold

  The inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule for 2005 increases payments to acute...

• Get to know SNOMED, key component of electronic records coming your way

  SNOMED CT, the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms, is a key component of the...

Issue 8, August 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• President's health tech committee publishes EHR recommendations

  The President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) published 12 findings and...

• Popular outsourcing solution earns high satisfaction level

  The majority of HIM directors (75%) currently outsource at least one HIM function, with...

• Paper, electronic, or somewhere in between

  Most facilities' medical records are somewhere on the paper-to-computer continuum-not on either...

Issue 7, July 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Prepare to collect quality data to get full reimbursement

  The inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule for 2005 ties quality to...

• Reel in revenue: Hospital committees focus on reimbursement challenges

  In 2002, Patti Markunas, RHIT, CCS, manager of coding and audits for Washington County Hospital...

• Two methods facilitate physician change

  It's difficult to evaluate vendors, calculate the return on investment, and determine and install...

• Stay on top of JCAHO EP scoring changes

  The JCAHO published an update to the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals in February...

Issue 6, June 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• President Bush brings electronic records to national forefront

  In late April, President Bush announced his goal that every American have a personalized electronic...

• You can help records highlight clinician communication

  In May 2003, the JCAHO survey for Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapids, NC, was...

• 2004 Medical Records Briefing salary survey: Don't underestimate small changes

  The 2004 Medical Records Briefing salary survey reveals more than just growing industry trends...

• Don't waste your compliance efforts: Check on these potential hazards

  Some facilities have gone overboard with creating new policies and procedures in an effort to be...

Issue 5, May 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• First privacy lawsuit filed

  The first class-action lawsuit related to violations of the Health Insurance Portability and...

• Cost, access, privacy all in play for offshore transcription

  Just as a Vermont facility announces that it will stop outsourcing transcription jobs to India...

• Universal chart order: Popular, but not universally appealing to all facilities

  The majority of facilities use universal chart order, and HIM directors at the facilities that do...

• Apply accountability to see documentation action

  Accountability is the foundation of a successful concurrent documentation review process for...

Issue 4, April 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Avoid the misery of misfiling

  If you want cooperation from the nurses and physicians who tend to leave a mess of misfiled...

• Transcription trail to Pakistan leads to privacy breach, significant fallout

  In fall 2003, through a chain of transcription subcontractors working for the University of...

Issue 3, March 3, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Post-acute care software snafu costing hospitals big bucks

  Payments for discharges and transfers under the inpatient prospective payment system are being...

• Field report: Maryland hospital undergoes new survey process

  Rather than sitting in a conference room reviewing manuals and policies as they had three years...

• Smart cards decrease duplicate records, cut costs

  By giving all patients a card to put in their wallets, two Northeast Health System (NHS) facilities...

• Hospital-wide education improves denials management, coding compliance, document

  For MultiCare Health System, based in Tacoma, WA, 2000 was not a good year. A loss of $23 million...

• Semantics: When you don't say what you mean

  We're all deluged with concerns from payers, hospitals, and the federal government about medical...

Issue 2, February 3, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Medicare reform act requires biannual ICD-9 code updates

  One provision of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, signed...

• CA health system takes on MPI cleanup

  With two affiliated hospitals, more than 750 beds, nearly 600,000 annual outpatient visits, and...

Issue 1, January 12, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Repackaged, revised IM standards present similar expectations

  The revised IM standards may look different thanks to new terms and reorganization, but the JCAHO's...

• JCAHO standardizes abbreviations with new 'do-not-use' list

  Even if you've already created and distributed a list of unacceptable abbreviations to your staff...

• ORR: Fewer requirements don't equal less attention

  Under 2004 JCAHO standard IM6.10, element of performance (EP) 11, an ongoing records review (ORR...