2019 Article Archive
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November/December 2019
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Working in Tandem
A collaborative effort between clinical and finance teams, including coding, can be a major boost to revenue cycle operations.
Know Thy EHR
The much-scrutinized technology fares better when users are made aware that it’s not a panacea for quality patient care.
Opening the Door to Data
A concept known as self-service analytics grants improved data access to those who might not normally enjoy such privileges.
Embedding IG to Optimize Cybersecurity
Data that are better taken care of have less chance of falling victim to breaches. To that end, an information governance strategy is a great investment.
departments
Editor’s Note
To Err Is (Only?) Human
Thought Leader Q&A
A 20-year HIM veteran chronicles her journey to becoming the interim CEO at a 47-bed Louisiana medical center.
Chart Conundrums
Take a peek inside the OpenNotes project to learn how its implementation has affected workflow, documentation, and coding.
HIM Happenings
Shoring up communication gaps can help alleviate patient safety concerns associated with tests pending at discharge.
HIT Happenings
For better patient care and experience, it’s time the health care industry stopped sharing medical images via CD.
News Briefs
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
October 2019
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Full Tilt Into the Future
As anyone in the profession can attest, the HIM landscape is undergoing unprecedented change. What lies in store for newcomers and veterans alike?
Keeping Tabs on Data
Are health care organizations overconfident in their ability to locate data? If they’re taking inventory only once per year, that may well be the case.
Medical Transcription: Still Room In-House
A dying breed, no doubt, but there remain health care organizations with on-site medical transcriptionists.
Meaningful Detection
It’s an evolving process with plenty of kinks to work out, but using data to spot trouble ahead for patients is filled with potential.
departments
News Brief
HIPAA Challenges
The lawsuit filed against Google and the University of Chicago Medical Center serves as a reminder of how difficult it is to balance policy and technological advancements.
Industry Perspectives
The power of genetic data is rendered impotent if the information is siloed. Can technology save the day?
mHealth Update
The Future Health Index unveiled a host of interesting findings, not the least of which had to do with telehealth adoption.
Coding Corner
Here’s a reminder that coders aren’t the only health care professionals who must be prepared for the upcoming coding changes.
Ask the Experts
A question about whether to code the principal or secondary diagnosis highlights this month’s inquiries.
Evolving Education
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
September 2019
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Eight ROI Missteps to Avoid
Clunky guidance and hard-to-follow rules make it difficult for HIM departments to gain footing.
The Qualification Question
With denials due to clinical validation on the rise, the qualifications of coders and clinical documentation specialists to query for clinical validity are creating heavy discussion.
Information Blocking: Is It or Isn’t It?
The verdict on how to define the term promises to have huge ramifications across the health care industry.
The Emergence of Ambient Clinical Technology
Is it possible for physicians to focus on patients instead of their computer screens and produce quality documentation? Nuance’s latest product says “yes.”
departments
Coding Corner
There are your typical denials, and then there are the ones that blindside health care organizations. A leading educator examines the latter and offers tips on how to avoid the misery.
HIM Challenges
In a profession in a state of flux, HIM professionals must take it upon themselves to make sure they stay a step ahead of the changes.
Chart Conundrums
Payers and providers are using clinical natural language processing to reduce administrative costs and improve the accuracy of analytics.
Inside Interoperability
It may sound like the acronym for a blue-collar union, but in actuality TEFCA is the moniker for the much-anticipated, much-debated effort to achieve interoperability. Is it worth its salt?
Industry Perspectives
Disruption in the health care industry is making the value of patient data rise exponentially.
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
August 2019
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Mergers, MPIs, Oh My!
Things can become complicated real fast when separate entities become one, most notably when it comes to patient identification.
EHRs and Patient Safety: Where Do We Stand?
Ubiquitous and polarizing, the technology’s achievements are sometimes overshadowed by its propensity to stick in the craw of disgruntled users, a situation that can put patients in jeopardy.
CAC: Temper Expectations With Reality
While computer-assisted coding may not revolutionize the department, it is capable of adding value to any coding operation.
The Devil Is in the Details
Knowing the ins and outs of payer contracts may seem like tedious work, but the payoff is undeniable.
departments
Evolving Education
For HIT professionals, continuing education and training can spell the difference between mediocre and quality patient care.
Coding Corner
The Social Interventions Research & Evaluation Network Gravity Project is focused on expanding codes across multiple standards systems to improve providers’ capacity to document social determinants of health.
Chart Conundrums
To avoid fraud charges, providers must be cognizant of how physician assistant documentation is being submitted.
Transcription Trends
Scribes can lend a hand to physicians struggling with documentation requirements.
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
June/July 2019
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Through the Cracks
Knowing and addressing the barriers to proper charge capture can help organizations reach a better financial plateau.
Documentation’s Finer Points
Just in time for summer reading, AHDI has introduced the latest edition of its style book, which hopes to improve standardization across the industry.
The Labyrinth That Is HIPAA
The omnipresent law can pop up and become a consideration in a variety of settings.
Breach Preparedness Know-How
Being the victim of a data breach is a harrowing experience. However, hospitals with a well-rehearsed, well-coordinated plan in place have the best chance to minimize the damage.
departments
CFO Zone
A director of revenue integrity and the chief operating officer of a coding vendor contemplate the ingredients that make up a productive relationship between a hospital and its coding partner.
HIT Happenings
A survey illustrates the public’s desire for providers to have greater access to health records. Is anyone listening, though?
Washington Scene
An AHIMA leader summarizes the organization’s recent trip to Capitol Hill.
Industry Perspectives
A new paper touts the prospect of using a system similar to the one employed by the US Postal Service to help curtail patient matching miscues.
Chart Conundrums
Focus on improving documentation and watch risk adjustment factors fall in line with the care being provided.
News Brief
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
May 2019
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All-In for All-Payer CDI
For years, clinical documentation improvement initiatives have spent the majority of their time focused on government programs. Today, more hospitals are making room for all payers.
Nebulous Notes Hinder Cancer Research
The fact that data contained in medical records and a cancer registry do not have the same level of specificity makes it more difficult for researchers to make progress.
Unlocking the Social Determinants of Health
UnitedHealthcare and the American Medical Association are supporting the creation of nearly two dozen new ICD-10 codes related to SDOH.
Emerging Voices
An EHR voice assistant project at Vanderbilt University Medical Center highlights how natural language processing is changing the landscape of heath care.
departments
Editor’s Note
HIT Happenings
Return on investment in digital health should be calculated in terms of hard and soft ROI.
Chart Conundrums
Poor documentation can have devastating financial effects on home health agencies.
Inside Interoperability
Big data and telemedicine are forces joining together to connect more patients to better health care.
Coding Corner
Coding experts warn not to sleep on anesthesia coding, whose challenges center on the complexities of its documentation.
Industry Perspectives
With artificial intelligence set to revolutionize revenue cycle management, HIM must be ready to take a leading role.
News Brief
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
April 2019
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What’s Your Business Associate Agreement Strategy?
Staying in tune with vendors and the like is a key piece of any strong compliance effort.
A Measured Approach to Quality
Some measures hit the mark while others seem to be off target. It’s this discrepancy that makes it difficult for all those along the health care continuum to get an accurate read on performance.
Of Viral Importance
Facilities that emphasize the proper coding of pneumonia benefit in numerous ways, including maintaining their quality scores.
Mitigating Risks Associated With Research Data
In the era of big data, health care organizations must be especially vigilant with how they manage health research.
departments
Fraud and Abuse
As telehealth use continues to grow, providers must become better attuned with the complicated regulatory landscape.
Thought Leader Q&A
There’s no denying it, Chuck Buck has a nose for denials. The curator of ICD-10monitor sits down for a chat about the state of reimbursement.
Transcription Trends
Let’s face it, it’s been a rough go for medical transcriptionists lately. Is the profession on its death bed?
News Briefs
Reader Feedback
Many readers were irked by the case of an Arizona teen who desperately needed her medical records to receive life-saving treatment.
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
March 2019
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Constructing a Career in Coding
For those looking to snag that elusive first coding position, experts suggest focusing on everything from the right academic mix to sound résumé building.
TPE Program Sets Sights on Improper Claims
Learn the details behind the Target, Probe, and Educate effort, which can make life miserable for organizations suspected of failing to meet Medicare criteria.
Privacy With a European Flair
More powerful than HIPAA, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation may have an effect on these shores.
‘Stupid’ Program Gets Results
To simplify documentation processes, a Hawaii health system took a radical in-house approach—it listened to staff.
departments
News Brief
Audit Alley
Audits that rely on random samplings aren’t enough to ensure a health care organization’s coding processes are in good shape.
Washington Scene
Thanks to the partial government shutdown, it may have seemed like nothing was getting done in Washington, but several agencies managed to squeeze in some action around the inaction.
HIM Challenges
Skilled nursing facilities are set to take on the challenge of the new patient-driven payment model.
HIT Happenings
Understanding the distinctions between patient monitoring and continuous clinical surveillance is more than a matter of language.
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
February 2019
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Altered Mental Status: More Info Please
Despite “altered mental status” being a generally accepted term throughout the medical profession, documentation experts warn that it typically does not adequately describe the care being provided.
Medical Record Requests Continue to Challenge Hospitals
When researchers checked in on the release of information process at 83 top-ranked hospitals, the results were not encouraging.
The Rise of the Chatbots
No, it’s not the title of the latest science fiction thriller to hit the big screen. Rather, it’s an examination of how the conversational agents fit into the world of health care.
Hitting the Mark on Coder Performance
Dashboards and EHRs have made it easier to track coder productivity, but a discerning eye is still required to ensure the data are painting an accurate picture.
departments
Editor’s Note
Adventures in Car Repair
HIT Happenings
Telehealth platforms and wearable sensors are two of five technologies leading the charge to improve patient care.
Data Analytics
Predictive analytics is going beyond the exam room and into the revenue cycle, flagging troublesome billing problems and helping health care organizations understand operational issues.
Coding Corner
When a medical device adverse event occurs, coders must consider whether to code it as device failure or complication due to a postoperative condition.
Evolving Education
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a seasoned HIM professional is the opportunity to pass along knowledge to those looking to get their careers off the ground.
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care’s facts and figures.
January 2019
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Is Offshore Coding Dead in the Water?
An eye-opening study spotlights the risks of choosing a coding partner that sends work offshore.
FHIR Blazes New Path Toward Interoperability
The standard may hold the key to dousing fears about health care's ability to seamlessly transfer clinical data.
Diversity Key to Patient Matching
A RAND Corporation study found that a multiprong strategy may help put a dent in health care's long-standing problem.
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
It may be 2019, but the health care industry continues to hang onto the beloved fax machine, a bygone technology whose time may be short if the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has its way.
departments
Editor's Note
Don't Be a Robot
HIPAA Challenges
The time it takes health care organizations to detect data breaches continues to decline, but it still is not ideal.
Quality Assurance
To achieve proper reimbursement, learn the ins and outs of reporting shared/split visits.
News Briefs
A survey on charge capture practices reveals several interesting tidbits on the role of coders.
Focus on Research
A colorful infographic helps to illustrate the five stages of data quality maturity.
EHR Insider
To avoid becoming vulnerable to malpractice claims, physicians must use EHR technology as it was intended.
By the Numbers
Get the lowdown on health care's facts and figures.
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