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It can be disheartening to hear that an initiative has made “significant progress” but still has “a long way to go.” That was my first thought when I read the interoperability update from David Kibbe, MD, in this month’s E-News Exclusive. Nevertheless, the president and CEO of DirectTrust mixes hope with pragmatism as he describes where health care resides and where it is headed in terms of data exchange. — Lee DeOrio, editor Interoperability: Steady as She Goes By David Kibbe, MD The terms “interoperability” and “interoperable health information exchange (HIE)” are used by different people to mean different things. But most of the time the notion is of moving data electronically across the barriers of separate organizations using IT systems from different vendors. It’s important to understand that interoperability is desirable because of the health care context, which has generally made it very difficult for the user of one brand of software, say Epic, to move a patient’s health record to a user of another brand of EHR, say Cerner or athenahealth. Until quite recently, health record exchanges between providers using different EHRs required mail or faxing of the records, a situation that seems both out of date and wasteful in today’s wired business world. Full Story » Documentation Quality Discussed at AHIMA Conference By Heather Hogstrom AHIMA recently held its 88th Annual Convention and Exhibit in Baltimore, where integrity in EHRs was one of the themes. A session on compliance risks in the EHR by Sandy Giangreco, RHIT, CCS, PCS, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-I, COBGC, and Kim Garner Huey, MJ, CCS-P, CHC, CPC, PCS, CPCO, emphasized balancing medical necessity and meaningful use. They noted that bringing forward medical history in the EHR is an important aspect of meaningful use, but that doesn’t mean you can count that comprehensive history toward the level of service for every encounter. Misuse of the copy-and-paste function can lead to overcoding. Giangreco and Huey advised that you should only document what you did today, since you already got paid for work that is copied and pasted. They mentioned a need for copy-and-paste standards, including one that would address the ability to check how much of a document is plagiarized, suggesting the medical record contain a certain percentage of original information in order to be billable. Read more »   E-News Exclusive A Bird’s Eye View of HIM Workflow Gain Insight With Predictive Analytics This Drug’s for You Evolve or Be Left Behind Denver Health Will Start Texting More Patients About Their Health Care Health Care Sector Gets a Near-Failing Grade on Cybersecurity AHIMA News MGMA News AMIA News Industry Insight Tech & Tools Ask the Expert A Bird’s Eye View of HIM Workflow Mapping, dashboards, and process diagrams can lead to efficiency gains in the HIM department. Read more » Gain Insight With Predictive Analytics Unleashing the power of Big Data can help providers identify the best course of treatment. Read more » This Drug’s for You The study of how genes affect an individual’s response to a particular drug treatment, pharmacogenomics has the potential to be a health care game-changer. Read more » Evolve or Be Left Behind Industry experts say medical transcriptionists would be wise to adapt their skills to the latest technologies. Read more » Denver Health Will Start Texting More Patients About Their Health Care Denver Health will connect its text messaging capabilities with its EHR so providers can see patients’ texts with their medical charts, according to The Denver Post. Health Care Sector Gets a Near-Failing Grade on Cybersecurity Cybercriminals attack the health care sector because it contains financial data but is less rigorously defended than the financial sector, according to McClatchy DC. Have a coding or transcription question? Get an expert answer by sending an e-mail to edit@gvpub.com.

Tweets From MGMA16 @MGMA Speed, efficiency, patient volume, and accuracy are key benefits scribes bring to practices, says Kyle Matthews at his #MGMA16 session. @vanessacarmean “Choose the EHR that will make you happy in 5 years” —Derek Kosiorek @MGMA #MGMA16 pic.twitter.com/Z0gpPobJEb @cericksonsail Your EHR ready for MACRA-MIPS? 4200 vendors are 2014 certified and so far only 19 are 2015 certified. #MGMA16 #MACRAscope Read more » AMIA Unveils 2017 Policy Priorities, Defines Pillars of New Policy Domain During the 2016 Annual Symposium, American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) officials unveiled Public Policy Principles & Positions for 2016–2017. The first four precepts of Health Informatics Policy—a new realm of public policy—were developed by AMIA’s Public Policy Committee over the last several months, and endorsed by the AMIA Board of Directors in October. Officials hope this work will articulate to members, policymakers, and other stakeholders which issues and conversations are most critical to discovering health insights and accelerating health care transformation. “These principles and positions reflect the values of our organization and represent the vast expertise of the AMIA membership,” said Thomas H. Payne, MD, FACP, FACMI, AMIA board chair and medical director of IT services at the University of Washington’s UW Medicine. “Whether we are discussing how to break down data silos and improve reproducibility in research, or empowering patients through access to their data, AMIA members are leading the way.” Read more » Health Care App Improves Patient Care and Increases Reimbursement pMD has added automated hospital discharge alerts to its mobile and web apps that improves follow-up care for patients after they are discharged from the hospital. The real-time alerts also allow physician practices to increase their financial performance for scheduling timely follow-up appointments with patients. pMD’s mobile charge capture software, which allows doctors to record billing and lightweight clinical information into their phones at point of care, sends an automated alert to the patient’s care team immediately after a patient is discharged. The alert includes pertinent information about the patient, including a discharge summary, medication changes, and care coordination notes. Learn more » Launchpad Digital Health Backs Digital Health Companies Launchpad Digital Health has backed several digital health companies, including the following. Medable is an app and analytics platform for health care and a leader in HIPAA compliance and data analytics for digital health companies. Hint Health is a software as a service offering for managing the operations of providers that are focused on value-based care, from concierge medical practices to dialysis clinics to larger group practices and provider organizations; for value-based care providers, the system components address business operations to payment processing. Lab Sensor Solutions is a data analytics and sensor for tracking and analyzing laboratory samples that require close monitoring, temperature control, and location and timing tracking. Moving Analytics is a technology platform that utilizes a highly successful postcardiac surgery program to improve compliance and limit relapse and readmissions. SoberGrid, a mobile-based social network platform, connects rehabilitated sober individuals with each other, rehab clinics, and other health care professionals and services. WellBrain provides a meditation platform for pain management, substantially reducing the need for Oxycontin and other addictive prescription pain drugs. Learn more » Apixio Announces Risk Adjustment Solution Apixio Inc introduced its Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) Profiler for Commercial Risk, for more accurate and complete risk coding for health plans on the federal and state health insurance exchanges. The solution leverages Apixio’s cognitive computing platform to read clinical charts and medical billing data to ensure that risk scores appropriately reflect conditions treated for individuals each year, with less time and effort. With a more complete view of patient conditions, insurers can better predict health care costs and be more successful on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. Risk adjustment plays a fundamental role in making the ACA exchanges successful, yet it is difficult to achieve. With the HCC Profiler for Commercial Risk solution, health plans can now analyze large sets of medical records to compile more accurate scores and better predict costs, which allows them to improve coverage, boost the quality of care, and thrive on the public exchanges. Learn more »   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 the country! Coding Manager Provider Education Manager Submit resumes to hr@logixhealth.com Logix Health, Bedford, MA New Tech Company to Address Value-Based Care agilon health, a health care services and technology company aiming to accelerate the conversion to value-based health care, recently announced its formation. The company brings together established value-based health care delivery systems, physician risk enabling infrastructure, and proven operating talent from across health care. The combination of these capabilities and a unique partnership-centric approach offers providers on a national basis the opportunity to successfully transition to risk-based business models. Read more » 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. A Secure, Anonymous Résumé Bank Job Alerts Sent to Your E-mail 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! Coming up in our December issue is our Innovations 2017 Showcase. Contact sales for more information. 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!