When CMS introduced Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC) with risk-adjusted scores, Ochsner Health System began efforts to educate providers and improve documentation across its many facilities.
Staffing problems and outdated equipment and software are healthcare’s top cybersecurity challenges, according to a June 2 report released by the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force, a federal task force established to fulfill requirements of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015.
In ICD-10-CM, defining, diagnosing, and documenting the various forms of altered mental status and their underlying causes remains an ongoing challenge for physicians and their facilities.
Technology has transformed HIM. Today, challenges in the HIM department include EHRs, alphanumerical codes, quality metrics, and technology devices like scanners.
Accurate clinical documentation is the bedrock of the legal medical record, billing, and coding. It is also the most complex and vulnerable part of the revenue cycle.
With value-based reimbursement, providers now must shoulder the health of the patient no matter where the patient receives care. The ability to share patient information seamlessly between these entities using interoperable technology is the next evolution of healthcare.
Despite the last-minute changes, MOON implementation went smoothly for many hospitals. But the full impact won't be visible until hospitals can determine how, and to what extent, the MOON will play into audits.
Ochsner Clinic Foundation began its ambulatory clinical documentation excellence journey in 2004, when Medicare implemented its Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC). Since HCCs affect patients’ Risk Adjustment Factor scores, and ultimately reimbursement for the care required to treat sicker patients, Ochsner needed to determine the best way to ensure annual HCC capture for all patients across its vast system.
This month's security Q&A answers readers' questions about accounting of disclosures, providing information to marketing departments, unencrypted emails, and terminating BAAs.
