It has been a long time since The Joint Commission has published frequently asked questions (FAQ), which serve as a great resource for clarification of standards and elements of performance. Generally, FAQs originate with questions from the field that continue to be asked over time.
Incentives posed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim Initiative and value-based purchasing emphasize treating the whole person to include preventive, medical, dental, postacute, community, mental health, and addiction services.
Last month, we laid the foundation to promote successful engagement of the coding and clinical documentation improvement teams in PSI 90 performance improvement efforts.
As required by The Joint Commission, a board of directors should regularly assess its performance, appropriateness of board and committee processes and charter fulfillment, adequacy of meeting structures and goals, communication with management, and other governance structures and activities. Generally, boards and their committees complete this assessment through self-surveys, internal audits, or collection of results as performed by legal services. Assessment results can lead to changes in board processes, with the goal of adapting to changing risks and environmental requirements, and improvements in governance.
At HCPro's Accreditation Specialist Boot Camp, we continue to receive questions about standing orders, protocols, and verbal/telephone orders. With spring on its way by the time this article is published, I thought a fresh look at these topics would be in order (no pun intended). Let's try to dispel the myths and go straight to what the regulations say and what is best practice to meet them.
Historically, the healthcare revenue cycle has been dominated by fee-for-service (FFS) payment arrangements that reimburse providers for the volume of care they provide. These reimbursement models have always been tempered by medical necessity determinations to ensure that the care delivered to patients is in fact medically necessary. Over the past several decades, healthcare costs have been rising precipitously. In response, new payment models have been developed to curb that trend and to deliver more cost-effective care with higher quality and better outcomes.
Hardly a week goes by in the healthcare field without another announcement of a regulatory change, delay, or new initiative. Technology innovation seems to outpace our ability to absorb change or install the latest update on various systems and software applications.
HIM professionals are at the center of a shift from a paper-based to an electronic healthcare environment. As healthcare organizations work toward Meaningful Use attestation, there are standards that can help HIM professionals ensure that their electronic records are interoperable.
Organizations often struggle to finalize charts after discharge so they can be coded in a timely manner, but this process can be completed efficiently with direction from HIM professionals and coordination between departments.
