The HITECH Act (The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The law was created to promote the “adoption and meaningful” use of health information technology. The Act instructed the Secretary of HHS to strengthen an individual’s access rights in important ways. One way is by instructing HHS to clarify …
The pace of change, consolidation, and ever-increasing pressure on revenue and financial stability in the healthcare industry is enough to make our heads spin on a daily basis. Couple that with the onslaught of government and commercial payer audits and denials, it’s no wonder healthcare organizations are in denial about the state their denials. Feeling overwhelmed and inundated with payer …
Heart failure is a serious medical condition that an estimated 5.7 million Americans are diagnosed with. This is a condition that occurs when the heart muscle cannot pump enough blood and oxygen needed by the body to support the other organs. According to the Center for Disease Control, the national estimated cost to treat heart failure is nearly $31 billion …
With the OCR issued FAQs on patient HIPAA rights to access PHI being out now for over a year, I know many of you are feeling more confident than ever on how to handle these pesky third party requestors who demand records under the HITECH Act. Or perhaps you are just as challenged as the rest of us? The FAQs …
Overweight and obesity are increasingly common conditions in the U.S. They are caused by the increase in the size and amount of fat cells in the body. Doctors measure body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference to screen and diagnose overweight and obesity. The National Institute of Health has deemed obesity as a serious medical condition that can cause complications …
The regional treatment modality fields for radiation therapy can be tricky when deciding on the appropriate code to assign. The regional treatment modality field is used to record the dominant modality of radiation therapy used to deliver the most clinically significant regional dose to the primary volume of interest during the first course of treatment. Codes are assigned to evaluate …
As HIM professionals we expect others we encounter in our personal and professional lives to share our same high level of commitment and dedication to our professional career. We also expect that from our team at the office, including external third-party auditors and record reviewers. External reviewers must share your organization’s commitment to protecting patient privacy and keeping medical records …
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) continue to change the landscape of healthcare. Although the technology and workflow of electronic documentation seems to make paper documents obsolete, a hybrid medical record exists in many healthcare settings. Organizations need to determine which paper documents to include with the EHR, access to that documentation and when to include that information when releasing protected health …
A 67 year old male who had been experiencing frequent melena presents to the hospital for work up and treatment. An esophagogastoduodenoscopy (EGD) was performed with the finding of a medium sized angioectasia (AVM) seen in the mid jejunum which was thought to be the source of the bleeding. As a result, the following procedure was performed: A single medium …
As we evolve in 2017, the challenges have settled for Health Information Management (HIM) post implementation of ICD-10. Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) programs and Computer Assisted Coding (CAC) continue to bring value to data integrity. Larger healthcare systems continue to centralize revenue services while their auditing efforts have improved with technology and resources to conduct audits, analyze findings and implement …