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E-News Exclusive Capturing Cancer Data in Real Time Dual Coding: An ICD-10 Jump-Starter Read Between the Lines When Disaster Strikes Physical by Smartphone Becoming Real Possibility UNM Hospital Stands by Its Outsourcing Decision Ask the Expert ACDIS Conference News HFMA Conference Preview Industry Insight Tech & Tools Analysis Identifies Most Popular Meaningful Use Menu Objectives Sevocity has analyzed the December 2012 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report “EP Recipients of Medicare EHR Incentive Program Payments” to determine which menu objectives were most often selected by providers attesting to meaningful use under the Medicare EHR incentive program. To qualify for an EHR incentive payment under the program, eligible providers must attest to 15 core objectives and select five of 10 possible menu objectives. The most popular menu objective was “implement drug formulary checks,” with almost 85% of providers selecting this as one of their five menu items. This was followed by “generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, or outreach,” with more than 74% of providers selecting the objective. “Summary care record for transition of care” was selected least, with less than 16% of providers choosing this objective. Read more » Be Inspired at ANI 2013 By Heather Hogstrom The Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) 2013 National Institute will be held June 16 to 19 in Orlando, Florida. New this year is an opening reception held in the exhibit hall, providing attendees with refreshments, entertainment, prize drawings, exclusive exhibitor promotions, and networking opportunities. This year’s keynote speakers are the following: Full Story » Coders have a lot on their plates these days; the list of looming deadlines is as long as M. Night Shyamalan’s collection of box-office bombs. Nevertheless, there always should be time for education. For example, do today’s coders know enough about case mix basics? If not, it’s a good time to become more familiar with this “weighty” set of calculations. This month’s E-News Exclusive provides an excellent primer for coders who want to better understand how case mix affects department budgets. — Lee DeOrio, editor Case Mix Basics By Judith Sturgeon, CCS, CCDS How many times are coders involved in discussions about their facility’s case mix index? And how many times do they actually understand how the index relates to coding? Most coding professionals in the diagnosis-related group (DRG) arena know their codes will somehow determine the hospital’s case mix index and their administrators consider case mix when they worry about the annual budget. Unfortunately, that often is the extent of coders’ knowledge regarding this calculated concept. To understand the case mix index, HIM professionals need to know the following: • Medicare pays hospital inpatient stays with a DRG. • A DRG is a lump-sum payment method to average the cost of and payment for taking care of similar types of patients. • Each DRG is assigned a numerical weight that reflects the current national average resource consumption for that patient population. • Each facility has a standardized dollar amount assigned by Medicare, determined by factors such as the case mix index, local wage index, number of low-income patients, and type of institution (eg, teaching). Full Story » Capturing Cancer Data in Real Time The longtime battle against this horrific disease could get a boost from physicians electronically reporting data to state registries. Read more » Dual Coding: An ICD-10 Jump-Starter Kick the transition process into gear with a plan to code from both sides of the fence. Read more » Read Between the Lines Being able to spot ill-advised copy-and-paste documentation can save coders from recurring compliance headaches. Read more » When Disaster Strikes A comprehensive business continuity plan can help alleviate hospitals’ fears about unexpected data loss. Read more »

View the current issue of For the Record now! For the Record is mobile for iPhone, iPad, and Android users! Visit www.ForTheRecordmag.com/digital on your phone’s browser to view the mobile version of this issue and bookmark us for future issues. Physical by Smartphone Becoming Real Possibility By connecting a variety of medical devices to smartphones, patients could get a physical without leaving their homes, according to USA Today. UNM Hospital Stands by Its Outsourcing Decision The University of New Mexico Hospital announced plans to lay off 57 transcriptionists, KQRE reports. Have a coding or transcription question? Get an expert answer by sending an e-mail to edit@gvpub.com. For The Record's online gift shop features a wide variety of items for HIM professionals for any occasion. Whether you are searching for products to give friends or colleagues, hand out to clients, or wear yourself, finding the right gifts is easy and affordable at For The Record's online gift shop. Choose from t-shirts, journals, clocks, buttons, mouse pads, and much more! Check out our secure online shop today or call toll-free 877-809-1659 for easy and fast ordering. For The Record offers many flexible advertising programs designed to maximize your results. From print advertising to e-newsletter sponsorships, website advertising to custom e-mail marketing, For The Record helps maximize your investment. E-mail our experienced account executives today for more information or call 800-278-4400! AlliedHealthCareers.com is the premier online resource to recruit HIM professionals. Post your open positions, view résumés and showcase your facility's offerings all at AlliedHealthCareers.com! Observations on the 2013 ACDIS Annual Conference By Robert S. Gold, MD Nashville rocked for the sixth annual national convention for the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS) during the week of May 20. The event continues to grow larger and attract more speakers with broader interest by the exhibitors, which now demonstrate more than the traditional coding, grouper, and CDI tracking software. The industry is being recognized as an essential part of the health care delivery continuum and deservedly so. That’s the good news. Full Story » A Secure, Anonymous Résumé Bank Job Alerts Sent to Your E-mail The nation's top employers and recruiters of HIM talent advertise in For The Record magazine and post their job openings on AlliedHealthCareers.com. Check out the most recent opportunities that have been submitted by employers across from the country! Senior Manager, Inpatient & Same Day Coding/Medical Records—UMDNJ, NJ Coding Specialist II—Yampa Valley Medical Center, Steamboat Springs, CO Certified Inpatient/Outpatient Coders—Northport VA Medical Center, Northport, NY Coder II—Anthelio, REMOTE, Texas Inpatient Coding Specialist—Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown, NJ Manager, HIM Coding—Crozer-Keystone Health System, Delaware County, PA Coder II—Platte Valley Medical Center, Brighton, CO Coders—South Jersey Healthcare, Vineland, NJ bpSalsa Blood Pressure App bpSalsa by DataDancer Medical Systems and iMobLife is an FDA-listed blood pressure app that directly compares the performance of different blood pressure treatments while improving the efficiency and cost of treating hypertension. Using a personal blood pressure monitor and bpSalsa, patients can directly track their blood pressure performance within and across multiple treatments and find their optimum treatment by viewing a graph comparing the performance of all attempted treatments, which can be lifestyle changes (eg, diet, exercise), prescribed medications, or combinations of both. The feedback helps patients become more compliant and engaged in improving their cardiovascular health. Learn more » Pulse Ox Tool Pulse oximetry screening is a life-saving test that can detect critical congenital heart defects in newborns before they’re discharged from the hospital. To help health care providers interpret the screening results, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has created the Pulse Ox Tool, a smartphone app that automates the test, decreasing the chance for errors and improving the accuracy of detecting children with possible critical congenital heart defects. Learn more » Heart Health Mobile Heart Health Mobile, an app developed by Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, tracks users’ heart disease and stroke risk factors and monitors progress. Users answer questions and enter statistics such as height, weight, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. The app offers educational information, allows users to find nearby locations for cholesterol and blood pressure screening, and incorporates achievements and a mini game, which features characters who represent an unhealthy lifestyle habit (eg, smoking, lack of exercise, poor eating habits). As the characters walk increasingly faster across the screen, users get points for dragging as many as possible into the correct buckets. Learn more » MediSafe Project 2.0 MediSafe Project version 2.0, a medication reminder that uses cloud-sync technology, sends alerts when users miss a dose, color codes adherence rates to help users easily understand how well they’re taking medications as prescribed, and allows users to e-mail their personalized list to doctors, caretakers, or family members. New features allow users to record doses of medication taken as needed, adjust how many days in advance they’d like to receive prescription refill reminders, and have multiple profiles, which enables users in charge of medication regimens for more than one person to separate medications into different user profiles. Learn more »